What defines a small stream? For Dave Hughes, it's not size but "that sense of intimacy" you get when you can observe the whole stream and "feel that you're a large and integral part of it." Hughes draws on his years of experience to teach you everything you need to know about fishing small streams, from choosing rods and flies to reading the weather and water. Hughes knows that successful fly fishing is more than just catching the most or the biggest fish. Small streams provide the opportunity for exploration and discovery—in addition to the fish. This second edition contains new chapters on reading the seasons and tenkara and is superbly illustrated with more than 100 new color photos.
Laced with fishing stories and a guest appearance or two from the inimitable A.K. Best, Gierach's book offers advice on tackle selection, reading water, casting technique, and small-stream scouting. Photos and drawings.
Anyone planning a fishing trip to beautiful southern Colorado needs this book to locate the best fly-fishing streams. Most guidebooks focus on large, well-known drainages. Williams and McPhail identify many locations not included in other books. They also recommend appropriate flies for each stream in entries that bring out the unique character of every fishing spot. In alphabetical order, the authors describe fishing waters from the Animas River to Willow Creek. They have intentionally omitted some lesser-known highcountry streams to avoid traffic and overfishing. They have also been selective in assigning flies, picking patterns that have worked for them rather than the obvious ones that local fly shops might recommend.
This essential book on fly tying will teach anyone how to tie flies. All the important techniques are illustrated with color photographs, from starting the thread on the hook to whip finishing. The book lays the basic ground work by fully explaining simple tying techniques, and then progresses to detailed tying instructions for some of the most popular, modern patterns. How to choose and prepare the correct material, and all the necessary tying steps for each fly, are detailed in superb, large, color photographs. Even if you have no previous tying experience, you'll be able to tie dries, nymphs, streamers, saltwater offerings, and bass bugs after just a few sessions with this book. The tyer is then advised how to progress to similar patterns using the same basic techniques. Also included is a huge reference of fly patterns - more than four hundred flies from the Orvis catalog are shown in full color, along with the tying recipes and proportions for each one. This book, drawing from the Orvis Company's vast resources and teaching experience and written by an author whose name is synonymous with Orvis, has become the bible for fly-tyers of all skill levels.
“His presentation of the what, how, when, where and why of the sport is eloquent in the clarity and precision of his writing. He provides a wealth of practical information, embellished with personal observations, and quotes from past masters.” -Richard Robinson, Master professional golf instructor, author, and fisherman “This book is an excellent resource for beginning anglers, and a very entertaining read even for those with decades of experience on the water.” -Justin Witt, International outfitter, guide, contributor to “The Flyfish Journal” ________________________________________________________________________ With fifty years of fly-fishing experience, Al Simpson has written an engaging book about fly-fishing for trout. It is packed with information helpful to anglers of all skill levels. Insights are frequently presented through a streamside experience. Topics include getting started, equipment, casting, trout feeding behavior, flies, reading the water, presentation, and seasons. He also discusses controversial topics like etiquette, stocking, and restoration of native trout. The work is richly enhanced with over 200 color photos and line drawings. It joins the short list of must-reads for trout anglers. The author began fly-fishing in 1962. He lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, and has fished the mid-Atlantic’s trout streams extensively. Summers have always included fishing in the northern Rockies. Now retired from the University of Virginia where he practiced and taught cardiology, he and wife Ginny spend their summers in Montana. They frequently travel to trout venues about the globe. A lifetime member of Trout Unlimited, he served as vice president on Virginia’s state council. He works part-time for Orvis as a fly-fishing retail specialist, and teaches fly-fishing. Local sports clubs frequently invite him to speak and conduct fly-fishing clinics. An avid blogger on all things related to fly- fishing for trout, he has an international following.
Through storytelling and stunning photography, this journey to the most iconic trout waters is as close to a firsthand experience as you can get—without getting wet. Trout takes us on a visually stunning tour of the finest trout waters—from the big freestone rivers of the West to tailwaters and tiny creeks and springs. Featuring photography from the Catskills to Patagonia, Appala-chia to the Rockies and Pacific Northwest, this is a life’s compilation of fly-fishing stories and photography. Each section features a photo gallery and an accompanying essay—fish tales—told in Tom Rosenbauer’s unmistakably authentic voice on subjects including big-river mysteries, boats, and guides, wading and solitude, flies, and the trout themselves. For the fly fisherman, this is an album of shared experiences that exist only on these magical trout waters.
This book is a comprehensive treatment of Vermont's trout streams. From mountain highland brooks, home to small native brookies, to meadow-cut rivers with deep holes that hold lunker brown trout, Vermont Trout Streams offers the angler a wealth of information. It is a comprehensive reference book that is as useful to the veteran angler, as it is to the newcomer. 450 trout streams are included.Wild trout distributions are identified, and high quality waters are highlighted, including miles of designated "trophy trout water."Includes 20 hand-drawn maps, covering all of Vermont's watersheds that support trout.Public accesses for boats and wading are identified. Stocking characterizations, based on multi-year analyses, are offered in handy summaries.Fly fishing information is presented in seasonal units, with recommended flies and techniques - including recipes for a few killer flies, selected by the editors.Special sections, termed "The Local Angle," are found throughout. These are angling essays, written by professional guides, Vermont Master Anglers, and other savvy locals, offering information on specific waters. .
The definitive and comprehensive guide to fishing small trout streams throughout North America. Tired of the famous and crowded rivers, today’s anglers have a greater desire to get close to nature while staying closer to home. The Orvis Guide to Small Stream Fly Fishing provides all the information for finding and fishing unspoiled gems found everywhere from wilderness areas to suburban backyards. These often overlooked streams are abundant throughout the United States, and range from the Appalachians—from Maine to Georgia—to northern Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, the Black Hills of South Dakota, the entire Rocky Mountain region from Montana to northern Arizona, and the Cascade and Sierra Nevada ranges. As more fishing is done close to home, small trout streams, or third-order streams as described by hydrologists, are thirty times as abundant as the bigger, more famous trout streams and most of them are on public land, making them more accessible. This beautifully illustrated and definitive resource explains the small stream environment, how to find these streams, how small-stream trout behave, how to read the water, special casts, fly selection, and how to present the fly in all types of small streams. With this book, anglers can find and catch wild trout far off the beaten path.
Modern-day fly fishing, like much in life, has become exceedingly complex, with high-tech gear, a confusing array of flies and terminal tackle, accompanied by high-priced fishing guides. This book reveals that the best way to catch trout is simply, with a rod and a fly and not much else. The wisdom in this book comes from a simpler time, when the premise was: the more you know, the less you need. It teaches the reader how to discover where the fish are, at what depth, and what they are feeding on. Then it describes the techniques needed to present a fly at that depth, make it look lifelike, and hook the fish. With chapters on wet flies, nymphs, and dry flies, its authors employ both the tenkara rod as well as regular fly fishing gear to cover all the bases. Illustrated by renowned fish artist James Prosek, with inspiring photographs and stories throughout, Simple Fly Fishing reveals the secrets and the soul of this captivating sport.
A profile of twenty of Wisconsin's finest streams. The authors share their fishing experiences, offering detailed maps and descriptions of the stream's location and natural setting, and conservation history.