Fishing & History Publications

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Other Books by Don Wilson , Maine guide, outdoorsman, sportsman and camper

Fishing Titles

History Titles

Short Stories

DON WILSON'S FISHING TITLES

Smelt Fly Patterns: Dressings - Tying - Fishing Many different fish feed on smelt, so consequently they are very important to fly fishermen. And because they can be found in many waters around the world, everyone has a favorite smelt pattern! Never before has an entire book been dedicated to this species. The most productive flies and techniques are included. Smelt Fly Patterns is all you need to fish these flies with great success! Color fly plates, 8 1/2 x 11 inches, 64 pages. Published 1996

Tandem Streamers - The Essential Guide to Tying, Designing, Fishing and History Streamers are incredibly effective on salmon and trout, but when trolling for these fish nothing beats a tandem streamer. A long-time Northeast favorite, the history of tandem - or double-hook - streamers is fascinating. Don Wilson has written the first book on the subject, and it is extensive: dressing tandems; trolling techniques; important people in their development and use; and hundreds of streamer patterns. With hundreds of fly plates and historical photos, Tandem Streamers is as visually intriguing as it is informative. If you like trolling for salmon and trout, you gotta try Tandem Streamers! 81/2 x 11 Inches, 176 Pages, All Color Published July 2011

Hatch Charts These North East regional waterproof 4"x7" pocketcards, are the perfect solution when you are on the river or lake and need to know what the fish are feeding on. The two-sided card includes the insects (caddiisflies, mayflies, stoneflies, and terrestrials such as grasshoppers, ants, midges and alderflies), the scientific name of the insect, hook size, month span of insect appearance and the respective fly pattern.

Northeastern Baitfish . . . and their fly patterns Authors and anglers have been writing for years and talking about larger fish and a common expression is: "the bigger the bait, the bigger the fish". While this is often a correct statement, it doesn't hold true all of the time. Big fish do require bigger food, or at least more of it. Simply put, that is how they got big or, at least, maintain themselves. And just how big a morsel is utilized by the large predator may surprise the average angler. With artificials, the question then becomes what to use. This Handbook will help you make that decision as each baitfish is described and the respective recipes included. This handbook is 48 pages with an additional 8 pages of 37 color baitfish illustrations. 5.5" x 8.5", Published 1998

Northeastsern Fly Hatches . . . and their Imitations The Northeast has a rich and extensive aquatic insect fauna. From Pennsylvania and New York northward through New England and into the provinces of eastern Canada, most waters contain an abundance of stoneflies, mayflies and caddisflies, along with lesser-known groups. These insects, particulary in their aquatic stages, provide a major food source for game fish species. This study treats the Northeastern aquatic fauna comprehensively and presents suitable artificial imitiations to assist the angler in pursuit of game fish. This booklet was designed for those seeking technical information to be used in conjunction with a more detailed identification guide. Its intent is to catalog the major aquatic speciies in the Northeast and suggest their iimitations. Major hatches are presented along with suggested, and proven, imitations. 5.5" x 8.5", 40 Pages, Published 1997

DON WILSON'S HISTORY TITLES

Maine Lodges & Sporting Camps Beginning in the mid-1800s and lasting for more than a century, Maine boasted a large number of lodges and sporting camps that catered to the pursuit of outdoor activities. While the primary interests of guests were fishing and hunting, many of the larger, more expensive resorts offered a variety of opportunities, including golf, horseback riding, tennis, boating, archery, and hiking. Some even some boasted gourmet dining and elegant parties. While some of these establishments survive, many have been demolished, existing only in memory and in photographs. Maine Lodges and Sporting Camps tells the story of the most prominent destinations, featuring nearly two hundred historic images that depict the life that existed when Maine was a sportsman’s paradise, abounding in trophy game and fish.

Maine Hunting Past Maine has long been a well-known and frequently visited hunting region. Long ago, moose and caribou were abundant and as time passed, trappers were able to earn a decent living pursuing choice and prized fur-bearing animals. Small game and waterfowl populations remained fairly stable over the years and have continued to increase in popularity. However, as large areas of habitat were cleared for timber, larger animals began to disappear and populations dwindled. Trapping has since become a less favorable mode of producing income because of the low prices offered for native and raw fur. Maine’s Hunting Past captures the pursuit of wild animals through a century of documentation. Since about 1850, animals have been taken for sport, for food, and for their hides. Hunting has long been not only a sport but also an industry, resulting in the increase and growth of sporting camps and an expanding number of guides. Maine’s Hunting Past highlights favorite regions, featuring famous sporting camps and well-known guides. Big game, small game, upland birds, waterfowl, furbearers, and numerous photographs of trophy animals and large bag limits are all included. 128 pages, 6.5" x 9.25", Published 2001

Glimpses of Maine's Angling Past Before airplanes, and with few roads, getting to Maine and the isolated fishing spots that made the state a world famous fisherman’s paradise was no small task. Huge resorts and hotels peppered the fishing regions, accommodating hundreds, perhaps thousands of sportsmen at any one time. From these lodgings, sports with their guides branched out, taking expeditions and canoe journeys that lasted for days, even weeks, into Maine’s wilderness. Only recently have vacationers been transient and as such, have changed the concepts of fishing in wilderness areas forever. Today, the hotels are mostly gone, and people now fish for a few hours to a day or more and then move on. Glimpses of Maine’s Angling Past returns to the days when vacationers settled into their camps for whole summers, before the endless acres of timber were dissected by logging roads, and secret, little-known lakes and ponds took days or weeks to reach. This long-anticipated volume includes countless images from the entire state, broken down into eight distinct areas: the Sebago Lakes, the Belgrade Lakes, the Rangeley Lakes, Down East, the Penobscot River Valley, the Kennebec River Valley, the Moosehead Lake Region, and northern Maine and “the County.” Included are rare photographs from lodges no longer in existence and antique sports magazines such as In the Maine Woods and Field and Stream. All of this is complemented by the author’s painstaking research and his intimate memories of Maine’s sporting history. 128 pages, 6.5" x 9.25", published 2000

Maine's Steamboating Past Maine steamboats existed in two different arenas: the ocean steamers that traveled up the coast and the inland steamers, which are the focus of this book. The Maine wilderness once witnessed an enormous movement of people, goods, and mail through steamboat traffic. Originally freighters provided supplies and merchandise for the lumber industry and, with the lack of roads, they were the only dependable transportation to many sporting lodges and resorts. Boat traffic also delivered indispensable goods to lakeside villages and outposts. Eventually sportsmen and vacationers discovered the beauties of the lakes and mountains, and steamboat companies formed early in the 19th century to serve the growing numbers of visitors and businesses. Thousands of families trekked from the southern cities to the interior to delight in a popular Northeast pastime. Getting to places was a chore as well as an adventure, and the railroads and the steamboats did the job. At one time, they facilitated the cycles of life in the Maine woods. 128 pages, 6.5" x 9.25", published 2007

Logging & Lumbering in Maine Known as the Pine Tree State, Maine once led the world in lumber production. It was the first great lumber-producing region, with Bangor at its center. Today, the state has nearly eighteen million acres of timberland, and forest products still make up a major industry. Logging and Lumbering in Maine examines the history from its earliest roots in 1630 to the present, providing a pictorial record of land use and activity in Maine. The state's lumber industry went through several historical periods, beginning with the vast pine and spruce harvests, the organization of major corporate interests, the change from sawlogs to pulpwood, and then to sustained yields, intensive management, and mechanized harvesting. At the beginning, much of the region was inaccessible except by water, so harvesting activities were concentrated on the coast and along the principal rivers. Gradually, as the railroads expanded and roads were constructed into the woods, operations expanded with them and the river systems became vitally important for the transportation of timber out of the woods to the markets downstate. Logging and Lumbering in Maine traces these developments in the industry, taking a close look at the people, places, forests, and machines that made them possible. 128 pages, 6.5" x 9.25", published 2001

A History of East Outlet, Moosehead Lake, Maine & Wilsons on Moosehead Lake A history of the East Outlet at Moosehead Lake Maine as well as the sporting camps, Wilsons on Moosehead Lake, owned and operated by the Wilson family for over 100 years, until 1974

Surveyors of New Hampshire Prior to 1900 A Biographical Dictionary of New Hampshire Land Surveyors 1600-1899; Authors: Brian Nelson Burford and Donald Alfred Wilson (160 pages) This is the first inventory of surveyors identified in the various town histories and biographies for the state. Various sources were examined for additional information and names, such as county histories, State Papers, various survey collections, N.H. Business Directories and a variety of specific published and unpublished genealogies. The authors hope to hear from readers who know more information about the nearly 1000 entries or to add the names of others not yet listed.

DON WILSON'S SHORT STORIES

Silver Trout & Moonlight Mack Brown is Maine Guide who settled into a sporting lodge on a large Maine lake sometime in the early 1950s. In many ways he is a typical Maine guide, but in other ways his character exhibits knowlege, diversity, wisdom, talent and a love for the outdoors equaled by few. Mack is, however, a typical Maine native - short on words, long on wisdom and philosophy and with a reverence for the great north woods. Fly fishing is his passion and guiding is his life. He cherishes bamboo rods, especially those made by the Thomas Rod Company of Bangor, is a master at tying flies and developed a particular friendship with the narrator. Mack relates his knowledge and experience, past and present, as the pair journey through the Maine woods in search of trout and of times past, and on the big lake in pursuit of landlocked salmon. Mack takes the young man to his most secret places, sharing the mystique and his knowledge. Always looking for the big fish, or the new experience, each place is unique and each fishing event an adventure with it's own features. Relax and enjoy a trip back in time when a large part of Maine was truly wilderness, and the fishing was something you wrote home about. This was a time when everyone caught their limit many times over, and everyone had a large trophy to brag about. 122 pages, 5.5" x 8.5" Trade Paperback, published 2011

The Judge's Rock Mack Brown is back in an all new set of stories! From the pen of Donald Wilson, here is the sequel to Silver Trout & Moonlight, covering many more adventures of the iconic Maine Guide you’ve come to know and love. 211 pages, 5.5" x 8.5" Trade Paperback, published 2011

Don Wilson, Fisherman

Donald A. Wilson holding 4 1/2 pound Brook Trout taken in Labrador

Don Wilson grew up on the shores of Moosehead Lake inMaine, where his family ran a sporting camp, Wilson's on Moosehead Lake, from 1864 to 1974. A licensed Maine Guide, he has fly fished his entire life, becoming an acknowledged expert on all aspects of fly fishing. He has written extensively on fly angling and fly tying and still maintains a cabin on Moosehead lake.