Daignault in Newport Last Night

[Back Beach]

Frank gets my nod as the premier writer/author of our era. Lots of others, but Frank is one of the few that is both a competent angler and outstanding writer. Few people do both of these things well.
Many of the guys I grew up fishing with resented him, but its all jealousy, IMO. When confronted with the "Why don't you like Frank?" question, most of the guys I know struggle to produce a valid argument to me.

[Circlehook]

I agree with above. You just can't put his books down once you get going. He does tend to recycle alot of his stories in his books though.

I wanted to go last night, but I am being murdered with my annual end of winter cold.

[NIB]

Originally Posted by Back Beach

. When confronted with the "Why don't you like Frank?" question, most of the guys I know struggle to produce a valid argument to me.

He comes across as a pompus ass..

Much like someone else who post's too often for their own good.

[Flaptail]

Originally Posted by Back Beach

Frank gets my nod as the premier writer/author of our era. Lots of others, but Frank is one of the few that is both a competent angler and outstanding writer. Few people do both of these things well.
Many of the guys I grew up fishing with resented him, but its all jealousy, IMO. When confronted with the "Why don't you like Frank?" question, most of the guys I know struggle to produce a valid argument to me.

You never asked me. Ask me how he dissed me about the Arnold Laine piece I did two years ago. Ask me how he had the info from Little Paulie the Fireman about Balston (Tony C. would love to tell you I am sure)
How about pissing off the rangers so bad with cheating on getting on or offand forging permits they came down on us like the SS back in the early 80's. If you had rods on at night and were just sitting in your truck you were harrased, fish or get off.

Read 20 years on the cape and you have read all of his books the others are just remixes. And the fly book is a farce. Want to learn to really saltwater fly fish for stripers read Kenny Abrames or Lou Tabory.

He is way overated. Mike if you were on the beach back then in the 70's and early 80's you would have done just as well. Tony C. was the real deal, still is and even Arnold Laine didn't take as many as Tony did. Frank is a wonderful self promoter buyt he wasn't near the best of the best.

[Back Beach]

Originally Posted by Flaptail

You never asked me. Ask me how he dissed me about the Arnold Laine piece I did two years ago. Ask me how he had the info from Little Paulie the Fireman about Balston (Tony C. would love to tell you I am sure)
How about pissing off the rangers so bad with cheating on getting on or offand forging permits they came down on us like the SS back in the early 80's. If you had rods on at night and were just sitting in your truck you were harrased, fish or get off.

Read 20 years on the cape and you have read all of his books the others are just remixes. And the fly book is a farce. Want to learn to really saltwater fly fish for stripers read Kenny Abrames or Lou Tabory.

He is way overated. Mike if you were on the beach back then in the 70's and early 80's you would have done just as well. Tony C. was the real deal, still is and even Arnold Laine didn't take as many as Tony did. Frank is a wonderful self promoter buyt he wasn't near the best of the best.

Steve,

I know the Laine piece ruffled your feathers a bit, but I really evaluate Frank from my own dealings with him. In the past I would fully buy into what my elders told me about him without questioning their motives. Many of my elders, dear as they are to me, tend to be a self serving bunch too. I’m not directing this comment at anyone in particular, its just a collective thought on people I knew past and present. This is mostly due to the fact they were money fishers and likely resented any perceived threats to their livelihood=greed. As for the 70' and 80's stuff, everyone out there stretched the rules as far as they could.

My point is Frank is one of the few authors who combines angling skill and writing skill. I’m not saying he’s the greatest surf man ever, but he was a good one by all accounts.

Glad you chimed in though.

[cow tamer]

I enjoy Frank for the pure entertainment of it.

Brings true meaning to "Diamond in the Rough".

[Rockport24]

As one of the younger guys that look up to all of you, it's just kind of sad that Frank and other sharpie surf guys (like you Flaptail) and others that shall remain nameless have had fallings out with Frank. I'm a big fan of Frank and I'm a big fan of people on this site. I know how it goes in the trenches though, so c'est la vie!

[saltfly]

Frank is a Story Teller remember that.Take it with a chunk of salt.

[vineyardblues]

Frank and Joyce are great people !!

VB

[fishgolf]

All these posts seemed to be written inadvertently...

[Raven]

Originally Posted by saltfly

Frank is a Story Teller remember that.Take it with a chunk of salt.

how BIG a Chunk?

[piemma]

Originally Posted by Back Beach

Frank gets my nod as the premier writer/author of our era. Lots of others, but Frank is one of the few that is both a competent angler and outstanding writer. Few people do both of these things well.
Many of the guys I grew up fishing with resented him, but its all jealousy, IMO. When confronted with the "Why don't you like Frank?" question, most of the guys I know struggle to produce a valid argument to me.

I agree Mike. I have read "20 Years on the Cape" hundreds of times. The stories are timeless. If you fished the Cape in the 70s you know what it was like. Frank was a meat hunter but I don't fault him at all. He had a family to feed and he was great at what he did.

He was not well received by the old guard at Murats. They all felt that he sold out by writing the book that gave away all the secrets.

[Back Beach]

Originally Posted by piemma

He was not well received by the old guard at Murats. They all felt that he sold out by writing the book that gave away all the secrets.

Kind of what I was getting at in my first post. Once you get outside the sphere of that particular clique, you tend to see things more objectively.