Bruce Ingram -- The James River Guide

The James River Guide: Floating and Fishing on Virginia's Finest by Bruce Ingram

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars

Much better than I expected. I thought it would be a pretty basic overview of the various floats on the river, but Ingram goes into some wildlife, history, etc. He dedicates some time to specific fishing locations and even lure suggestions (focusing on smallmouths). It's a quick read, but seemingly essential before tackling the James.

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Dave Hughes -- Trout Rigs and Methods

Trout Rigs & Methods: What You Need to Know to Construct Rigs that Work for All Types of Trout Flies & the Most Effective Fishing Methods for Catching More & Larger Trout by Dave Hughes

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars

It's not exactly the kind of book you read straight through (though I did), but it's an amazing resource. Hughes provides tactics to cover pretty much every trout fishing situation you could come across, and explains it from rig to presentation.

Throw in the quick overviews on knots, gear, casting, etc., and you could just about use this book to guide your entire fishing. It's the kind of book that makes me wish I had this much knowledge about anything. I'm sure I'll be referencing it repeatedly.

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The Double Skunk

I did something two weeks ago that I haven't done in years, if ever. I got skunked on two consecutive days.

The first day I worked hard. I was trying out a new stream in the SNP, heading into Whiteoak Canyon. I tried various flies and tactics, all with no luck. I might have had two hits all day, and didn't spot any fish. The stream was pretty low and it was still early in the year so I'm not taking too much offense.

The end of the hike was worth it, though. I knew there were a couple falls, but I was unprepared for just how magnificent they were. I hiked up about even with the top of the upper falls, finally shedding the clothes that the 40-degree start the morning necessitated. I sat up top for a while, decided that was a good cap to the day and that I'd hike out without stopping to fish.

I didn't make it, of course. I had to stop at this one pool that looks so perfect. One little bump on a nymph (maybe). Then someone's dogs waded into my pool. It had still been a splendid day.

The next day was less intense. It was 80 degrees and I had an hour or two free so I zipped out to the lake hoping to find some pre-spawn crappie, or maybe some gill. Nothing at all. The boat launch area was absolutely covered in bank fisherman, so I drove around to the other side, to where I'd caught fish pretty much all season long.

Not so much as a hit today. I'd have liked to have fished some bait this time of year, preferably hung under a bobber, but I didn't have time to go get any and was just outside to be outside.

I can't say I enjoyed getting double-skunked, but neither day was that bad. What it really means is that I *have* to catch fish this weekend, and I'm heading to a spot I'm not sure about how optimistic I should be. We'll see...

Fly Pattern Encyclopedia

Federation of Fly Fishers, Fly Pattern Encyclopedia by Al Beatty

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars

This one's just not for me. There are some beautiful flies in here, but they're usually too complicated for my skills (and more complicated than what's necessary to catch fish). Between the complexity of the patterns and the use of unusual materials, it's not one I'll actually be using.

I'd also be interested to see some info on how/when to fish some of these flies. The backwards woolly bugger, for example -- when does this outfish the original? Some information like that, even if it meant the inclusion of fewer patterns, would have been great.

It's a book for fly tyers more than fly fishers. Good at what it is, but not for me.


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Dick Stewart -- Universal Fly Tying Guide

Universal Fly Tying Guide by Dick Stewart

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars

An earlier edition of this book was the first fly tying pattern book I ever had, and that's probably where it should be. There's a decent introduction to a few techniques, and a good diagram of the proportions of some flies.

The pattern collection is pretty simple, and pretty small. Returning to it now, I don't always think these are the best versions of the flies (the hare's ear being the prime example), but there are no glaring problems here. As a cheap, concise intro, it's not a bad pick, but it won't served more advanced tiers.


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John Roberts -- Collins Illustrated Dictionary of Trout Flies

Over the next week or so, I'm going to be posting my thoughts on a handful of fly tying books. Here's the first, on one that I bought out of a bargain book newspaper catalog I used to get until maybe 2000 or so:

Collins Illustrated Dictionary of Trout Flies by John Roberts

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
This is one I just don't connect with. It's a great collection of recipes, with maybe 1000 patterns, and includes work by some great tiers. Just in the "W" section we get Whitlock, Wotton, and Wulff (and then throw in LaFontaine, Ruane, etc.).

So it's a great compendium, but that's it. There's not much instruction here, or instruction on how to fish the patterns. So I'm sort of criticizing it for being something it didn't mean to be, I admit.

It's also a bit British for my purposes, whether it's the certain terminology or certain patterns that just seem culturally off to me.

One oddity about using the book (though this is wise in terms of price and) is that the pictures of patterns are separate from the recipes, with a set of full-color plates in the middle of the book. It takes some flipping to see exactly what you're looking at and how to make it. But this is a reference volume, not an instructional manual. It's just not one that really does it for me.

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A Tail of Two Fishies (or, Best-Titled Story Ever)

So a while back I mentioned the big brookie and the carp I caught by hand. They're connected by similar mysterious behavior.

The brookie was more dramatic. I was fishing my favorite trout stream, and trying to work some pocket water that I was always sure held trout but could never find any in. Something big hit my nymph and took off. I set myself for a tough fight, especially given the tricky footing and quick water. Very soon after the hookset, though, I saw my line angle toward a small boulder and then go tight under it. I could still feel the fish throbbing on my line, so I kept slack out and waded to the boulder.

I've caught fish before (usually bass) where I've had to free the line from tangles or wait for the fish to back out of weeds (sometimes you can induce this, at least on spinning gear, by plucking your line like a guitar string). This fish, though, had just cannonballed right under a boulder and stopped. When I reached it, I reached down and grabbed it near the tail and pulled it out. To my surprise, it was a gorgeous brookie about 15 inches long. Somehow it had wedged its head under the boulder and seemed unsure how to get out. I turned it loose and it seemed fine. I'm not sure how bright it was (especially given that it managed to get itself caught by me), but I'm not sure why else it would end up in such a predicament.

The carp was a little stranger, and I feel like I probably did something wrong. I was smallmouth fishing in my home county, working a stretch of water with Dad that, while productive, was more notable for the climb involved in exiting the river. I was upstream from him a ways when I caught site of a carp with its head in some weeds. I couldn't figure out how to make a cast, given that it's head was in the weeds.

I crept closer, and it didn't move. It was wiggling a little bit, or I'd have thought it was dead. I got close enough to poke it with my rod tip, but it didn't respond. I clambered up on a rock next to it and couldn't figure it out. It looked stuck. As far as I could tell, it wasn't spawning or anything. It just had managed to get its head (and gills, if I remember right) stuck on some weeds. I grabbed it by the tail and under the belly and lifted it up and back out of the weeds. I helped it revive, and watched it swim off. Then it struck me that I had perhaps intervened in some natural event I shouldn't have, but I'm not sure what that could have been (other than imminent death).

I'd be happy to hear any thoughts on this situation.

There it is. Two fish that managed to get their heads stuck. One a big brook trout in a cold, fast stream while hooked; the other an average-sized carp in a slow, warm river, apparently on its own. I still think both were a little weird.