Looking Astern

More Historic Tales of California Ocean Fishing

by Ed Ries

Ed Ries has fished the waters of Southern California for 80 years, fishing both commercially and for sport. Later developing skills as a marine artist, he depicted detailed scenes of fishing --everything from sharks, tuna, salmon and halibut-- from yesteryear. His desire to share long forgotten fishing history lead to writing a column in South Coast Sportfishing magazine starting in 1981.

As a historian, Ed collected stories, information and photographs of boats and people from the “Golden Years,” and wrote his first book, the award winning Tales of the Golden Years of California Ocean Fishing; 1900-1950. As a follow-up to the success of Golden Years..., Ed wrote another book on the little known history of Fishing Barges of California, 1921-1998. In Looking Astern, Ed Ries combines his lifelong experiences and passion for fishing and 30 years of articles from the column of the same name with photos and stories from friend and fellow fisherman, Mike McCorkle, to make up his third and last book on the fascinating history of sport and commercial Pacific deep sea ocean fishing from Monterey to far south of San Diego.