PAVLOV'S TROUT: THE INCOMPLEAT PSYCHOLOGY OF EVERYDAY FISHING.

1994 1st edition. 8vo (145 x 224mm). Ppxii,211,ad. Small chapter heading silhouette illustrations. Brown boards, silver spine titles.

"An oddity among fishing books. For one thing, ...it says nothing about how to catch fish. ...This book is about... the psychology of fishing, or perhaps the abnormal psychology of fishing. It is about becoming and being a fisherman". Chatty but serious analysis of the change in mental habits required of those who aspire to success in angling. Chapters include: The grass pickerel and other motivational mysteries; The neuropsychology of fly selection; Pavlov's trout; Of curious connections; The first fisherman; Whatever became of fishing man?; How to turn a perfectly normal child into a fisherman; Self-deception and the angling mind, or why fishermen lie; The ethical angler; Notes on sex, marriage and tournament fishing; Stress and fishing; Solitude and the case of the jittery disk jockey; Fishaholism; Luck and the case of the smoking smallmouth fishermen; The incidental cure; The existential angler.