Most fishing articles are focused to help you take fish. Perhaps an occasional one reminding us that, "there is more to fishing than catching fish", isn't entirely amiss.

Even though we have all heard of the fellow who took his wife fishing once "so she wouldn’t think he was out enjoying himself", most of us do fish for fun.

Still, either through legislative dictate or that of the elements, seasons do close, and anglers seem always alert for ways to extend their enjoyment through long winter evenings.

Angling with flies, in particular, has a dimension beyond actual fishing. One that can hold your interest year-round. It has a literature more vast and diverse than any other sport.

A recent survey by the Fly Fisherman magazine showed that the average reader who responded purchased and read 3.5 books on fly fishing per year.

Not that fly fishers are necessarily a bookish bunch. The way to learn to fish better, of course, is to fish. Most angling libraries began with one or two "how-to" books and just grew.

You don't need to be well read or erudite to be a fly fisher. On the contrary, reading is a poor substitute for doing.

Still, a couple of thousand volumes have been written (and read) about fly fishing and more are appearing monthly. Reading and collecting them is enjoyed by anglers everywhere.

There is, besides the knowledge to be gleaned from contemporary books,a gentle rapport in many old ones. For instance, it is heartening to learn that centuries ago, fishers weren't much different than we are today. There's a charm in getting acquainted with those old-timers and finding they experienced the same dilemmas, solutions, failures and successes astream that you may have last week.

Or that early-day anglers strove to practice the same ethics we value today.

The first known book on sport fishing appeared more than five centuries ago. Titled "Treatyse of Fysshyng Wyth an Angle", its author was Dame Juliana Berners, prioress of a nunnery at Sopwith, England. In it, among other things, she admonished the reader to "break no man's hedges" and "to open no man's gates but you shut them again".

The good dame also cautioned against being greedy in the taking of game, but rather to fish "for the solace of it and the health of your body and especially your soul".

Her work had chapters on rod, hook, line and fly making plus a dictionary of fly patterns with instructions as to which months they worked best.

Her stream tactics are as applicable today as then. She cautioned the fisher to nourish and protect his game in every way possible.

Reading her work five hundred years later brings to mind the proverb; "The more things change, the more they are the same".

Although a number of books were published in between the best known one ever written about outdoor sport came 200 years later. Isaac Walton endeared himself to fishers forever with "The Complete Angler".

It had literary quality of course, but no small part of its charm is that the idea, "There is more to fishing than catching fish" was expressed so well.

After Walton, fishing books proliferated. In this country alone, the number published in the last thirty years would defy belief. For the beginner the amount of literature available must seem overwhelming.

To start with, buy books you can use, practical ones on the phases of angling that hold interest for you. Collecting can come later. If you do, it's not a bad idea to specialize in one or two fields at first.

Don't make the mistake of thinking old books have value only to collectors. Often they have more to offer, at least for beginners, than modern ones.

Written when the phase they cover was relatively new, as a rule more attention is paid to basics and you will discover in this sport basics have changed very little.

I first started using dry flies for trout in the forties. I read everything I could get my hands on but the two books that really helped were, Gill's "Practical Dry Fly Fishing" published in 1912, and Camp's "Fishing With Floating Flies," 1913. Both concentrated on fundamentals. The sport was new in this country when they were written.

Contemporary writers either assumed I knew more than I did or they had an incomplete comprehension of the basics themselves.

Another book every fly fisher should own is Ray Bergman's "Trout". First published in 1938, it is long on basics and has become an American classic. Sid Gordon's "How To Fish From Top To Bottom" (1955) has a chapter on nymph fishing that should be memorized by every midwestern fly angler. Gordon, a Wisconsinite, was a nationally known limnologist with the old Conservation Department and a dedicated fiy fisher.

Speaking of Wisconsin writers, Dr. James Hershall, 0. W. Smith, and Lew Morrison were all state residents and anything by them is worth acquiring.

Where do you find such books? Pay special attention to garage and rummage sales in fishing areas. Check out thrift shops, used book outlets, estate sales and auctions.

Get on secondhand sporting book dealer's mailing lists and write for catalogs. many advertise in national outdoor magazines.

Several years ago I picked up an excellent copy of Sid Gordon's "How to Fish From Top to Bottom" for a couple of dollars at a secondhand store in Lowden, Washington. Last fall I found a "Nessmuk" book with chapters on early day fly fishing, and a mint condition copy of Herbert Hoover's "Fishing For Fun", at a used book store in Alberton, Montana, 0. W. Smith's "Musings Of An Angler" turned up several years ago at a southern Wisconsin garage sale for twenty five cents.

Speaking of Wisconsin writers, Gary Borger has a fine book out on identifying and imitating aquatic insects, crustaceans, forage fish and terrestrials". Called "Naturals", it's well worth the $15.95 price.

A few fishing equipment retailers and many mail order outfitters sell new fishing books, some at a discount. Any book store can order books that are still in print for you.

If you are going to learn fly tying from books, try to locate one or two old ones. Contemporary works mostly are long on patterns and short on technique. Older ones usually not only stress how to, but also the steps necessary in making flies that won't come apart in service, something many modern dressers no longer seem concerned about.

Like so much of our technology, emphasis now seems mainly on getting by as easily as you can. Make as few knots as possible, don't cement anything if you can avoid it. If a fly lasts for more than a few fish you made it too good, it seems.

One of the best, most complete fly tying books ever written was George Leonard Herter's "Professional Fly Tying and Tackle Making Manual". I have a collection of more than 400 volumes on fishing and fly tying. My eleventh edition twenty four year old Herter's manual is still the one most often consulted. If you find one, buy it. It went through something like eighteen editions.