Ernest Schwiebert, 74; Architect Wrote Pivotal Fishing Books, Urged Release of Caught Fish

Ernest Schwiebert, 74, an architect whose lifelong passion for fishing led him to write influential books on such matters as how trout perceive insects, died of renal cancer Dec. 10 at his home in Princeton, N.J., said his son, Erik.

His 1,745-page “Trout” (1984) traced the sport to the ancient Greeks and Chinese, then meandered through nearly every conceivable topic of interest to anglers. In “Matching the Hatch” (1955), Schwiebert was one of the first to link artificial fly imitations to insect nymphs.

Born in Chicago, Schwiebert earned a bachelor’s in architecture from Ohio State University. As an architect, he specialized in airports and military bases but left his firm in 1977.

Schwiebert helped found Trout Unlimited and other conservation groups, and championed releasing caught fish. “The angler does not need a dead trout in his basket to feel satisfaction,” he once said.