Looking Astern
By Ed Ries

Ed Ries has fished the waters of Southern California for 80 years, first as a young lad on the Santa Monica Pier, then as a licensed boat captain during the Depression. After the war, Ed retired as a Master Chief Bos’n’s Mate, USN, and took up fishing both commercially and for sport. Later developing skills as a marine artist, he depicted detailed scenes of fishing 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 fishing in Southern California.

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Tales of the Golden Years 
of California Ocean Fishing 1900-1950
By Ed Ries

Back again after ten years, the second edition of Tales... is now available, completely revised, expanded with additional pages, photos, and an index.  Tales... covers every type of sport and hook-and-line commercial fishing available during the Golden Years.  An author with over 200 articles and columns published in South Coast Sportfishing, California Angler, Mains’l Haul and others, Tales... is the culmination of seven decades of fishing experience and extensive research.  This collection is must reading for all who are interested in saltwater fishing and its history.

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Fishing Barges of California
1921-1998
By Ed Ries

Few Southern Californians realize that over 110 fishing barges dotted our coastline from San Diego to Santa Barbara and beyond for three quarters of a century. Vessels that outlived their usefulness were now moored near the coast as platforms from which to fish. The story of each barge, its previous trades under sail and steam, the barge industry, and the fishing of yesteryear are captured in Fishing Barges of California 1921-1998.

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Lost Below; The Southwest's Most Intriguing Shipwrecks, Sunken Aircraft, Submerged Ruins and Undersea Treasures
By David Finnern

Lost Below, by David Finnern is a new book featuring the Southwest’s most intriguing shipwrecks, sunken aircraft, submerged ruins and undersea treasures.   It features stories about local shipwrecks and various underwater plane wrecks.   Steamers and river ports of the Colorado are included, including an expedition to the forgotten site of Port Isabel at the mouth of the Colorado River in Mexico.

David Finnern is an award winning author with hundreds of articles in Skin Diver, Immersed, Western and Eastern Treasures, California Diving News, Underwater USA, and others.  He is a former president of the Adventurers’ Club of Los Angeles, the California Wreck Divers and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Lost Below is 108 pages long and features over 200 photographs of the most fascinating sunken historical treasures of the Southwest and true adventure of exploration and discovery. 

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