Charley Waterman, as others have said, is a true Renaissance sportsman, keeping his interests broad, his knowledge deep yet playful. He also is arguably the finest outdoor writer practicing today. He should be, he's been doing it for over sixty years. Author of nineteen books and six decades of articles, he is a regular contributor to several magazines and has received many awards for his writing.
Charley was born in Kansas and attended Pittsburg State University there. After a few stints on Kansas newspapers he served as the leader of a Navy combat photo team, a part of the famous Steichen group, during WWII in the Pacific Theatre.
We are honored to have one of his stories appear in The Riverwatch. Taken from Field Days it is used with permission. Other books include: Gun Dogs & Bird Guns, Black Bass & the Fly Rod, The Part I Remember, Hunting Upland Birds, Ridge Runners and Swamp Rats, Fishing in America, The Fisherman's World, and The Practical Book of Trout Fishing.
His writings have also appeared in many anthologies. The ones I remember as being very special are those that appeared in the extraordinary Silent Seasons, edited by Russell Chatham, and the more recent Home Waters, edited by Gary Soucie.
He is also the author of one of my favorite books, Mist on the River: Remembrances of Dan Bailey, and has written an unfortunately forgotten, A History of Angling.
As Tom McGuane observes in his Foreword to Field Days:
Charley Waterman has written for a living for a very long time. This is a wretchedly hard thing for anyone to do. I am sure he has had occasions when a sustained meditation on a personal river or a courting of the soul through grouse hunting would have suited him fine. But a driving force in his hunt has been in bringing home the bacon. Therefore, a great portion of his body of work, like Red Smith's and Ring Lardner's, is in the form of short pieces, most often for magazines. But it is the steady accretion of sharp observation, common sense, amiable annoyance with pretense, and above all the homegrown seed of wit that unify his work and give it a natural wholeness.
Editor's Note: It is my understanding that Charley and his wife Debie spend their winters in Florida and their summers in Montana, as they have done for many decades.
RWOL
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