The Orvis Guide To Personal Fishing Craft. posted with permission

Gary and Lisa Sinkas
The Orvis Guide to Personal Fishing Craft
1987: I started fishing from a kayak somewhere in the late eighties,
inspired by an Outdoor Life article about Gary Sinkas and his wife, Lisa. Long before the kayak I paddled a canoe, which I still and always will. The canoe, out of all the crafts I’ve ever written about, requires the most skill, but they are skills well worth the time it takes to learn them. In my search for the perfect craft, I fell victim to the conveniences of the float tube and eventually the pontoon boat, which would distract me from paddling any craft for almost four years, not realizing at the time that I was gathering material for my second book.
2002: After paddling a kayak for a couple of years I began writing my first book Paddle and Flies (which by the way has yet to be published). 2002 was also the same year I started doing kayak-fishing seminars at the International Sportsmen Exposition.
2003: I finished my book only to have magazine editors and two different well-known book publishers tell me that there was no market or an audience for anything on fishing, particularly fly-fishing from a kayak. I also returned to the ISE shows in 2003; this time I was furnished with a 20x14 ft. above ground pool for doing kayak fishing and paddling demos. It was the San Mateo show where I would have a fateful meeting with Tom Rosenbauer of Orvis. I actually met Tom at the Orvis booth. Tom Rosenbauer has probably written more books about fly-fishing than anyone, and it’s been said he’s the best how to writer in fly-fishing.
Tom and I had a great conversation about, of all things,
fly-fishing from a kayak.
Tom came out to the pool and checked out a couple of kayaks I had on display. During the four days the show was going on we discussed fly-fishing from a kayak a number of times. Eventually, I told him about my book Paddle and Flies, and he told me to email him a rough copy.
After reading it Tom told me that he and the folks at Orvis,
didn’t want to publish a book on kayak fly-fishing, but they did have a project I might be interested in.
2004-2005-2006: It seemed Orvis was looking for a writer to write a book on paddle crafts, such as the float tube, pontoon boat and the canoe. Tom said if everything worked out that I would be able to include the kayak as well. I then wrote a manuscript that Tom liked. However, there would be four rewrites before Tom liked the book.

2007: I spent 2007 going at it over my book with some very particular production editors. Their purpose is to make a book sell better, which for me meant more rewriting as well as reshooting images. However, in the end, my book was my book, to which I thank God for.
In what I’ve written here…I'm not so much trying to promote my book as I am sharing the experience of writing it.
2007, December 1,The Orvis Guide to Personal Fishing Craft was published.
www. paddleandflies.com
http://www.midcurrent.com/news/2007/11/




_________________
For a fisherman to be complete, he must go upon the water.
Rickey Noel Mitchell

Paddle and Flies

Hey Rickey... very cool!

NCKA is so fortunate to have such a diverse and talented group.  We have book authors, magazine writers, kayak fishing pioneers, fish experts, artists, and other interesting members who contribute regularly.  We all ought to be proud.

I look forward to checking out your book.  I want an autographed copy.

I also returned to the ISE shows in 2003; this time I was furnished with a 20x14 ft. above ground pool for doing kayak fishing and paddling demos.

I remember seeing and meeting you there.

Congrats on the Book!

Hey Chuck, thanks for the kind words.
It's always been a honor and pleasure to be a member of this forum.
Hey Mooch a lot should has happened since then.

I look forward to checking out your book.  I want an autographed copy.

Me too!

Z