Albert Jules (A. J.) McClane is certainly America's best-known fishing writer in the twentieth century. From 1947, when his byline first appeared in Field & Stream, till his death in 1991 at his home in Palm Beach, Florida, he educated and entertained readers throughout the world with his eloquent mix of anecdote and expertise. Although he considered himself more a reporter than an expert fisherman, few anglers in the history of the sport have gathered such a wide range of experience in so many different places. Whether he was writing about fishing for bluegills in farm ponds or for marlins off the Florida coast, he brought the same enthusiasm and care to his work. Experts and beginners alike could read a piece by McClane and feel that it had been written expressly for them.

McClane began collecting fish stories and experiences from his earliest years. Though his family lived in Queens...