Doug Rose Flyfishing

I’ve “reviewed” several older fly fishing books–Ray Bergman’s Trout, Knox’s Autumns on the Spey–over the last couple of years. I chose those books because they not only convey important information about the development of the fly fishing techniques and flies we use today, but because they provide vivid glimpses of angling in another era.  I also think they are especially well written, not something you can say about many books published on fly fishing today.

However, if I had to chose a single older volume that is most helpful in terms of technique and presentation for steelhead fishing–without concerning myself with the craft of its writing or its narrative quality–it would be Greased Line Fishing for Salmon. It’s not that the book is poorly written. It simply is very technical, nearly to the exclusion of the storytelling that enlivens many of the finest older books.

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I opened my ”Fall 2008 Newsletter” with this citation:

“The golden period of sport for the angler on this portion of the Spey is from the 26th of August to the 15th of October.”

One of the classics of Atlantic Salmon fly fishing literature, Autumns on the Spey was published in 1872. Its author,  A. (Arthur) E. (Edward) Knox, was a frequent guest of Charles Gordon-Lennox, the 6th Duke of Richmond and Gordon, at northern Scotland’s Gordon Castle. The book documents Knox’s experiences hunting, hiking, birding and, most importantly, fly fishing Speyside. (more…)

It’s hard to imagine an angler living a more charmed life  than Van Gorman Egan.

Originally from Wisconsin, he fell under the thrall of trout and fly fishing early. As a young aldult, he obtained a copy of The Western Angler, Roderick Haig-Brown’s seminal book on West Coast angling. That inspired him to make a pilgrimage to Haig-Brown’s Vancouver Island home. Deciding to make the island his home, he eventually married a local woman, also an avid angler, and became a high school biology teacher at Campbell River. Until Haig-Brown’s untimely death in 1976, he and Van Egan were neighbors, good friends and fishing companions. (more…)

When I was a kid, I lived about a mile from a cluster of ponds and small lakes. Most of them contained  warm water fish–large-mouthed bass, bluegill and sunfish, carp and alligator gar. But the two smallest were feed by springs and remained cold and clear throughout the summer. We called them ”The Trout Ponds.” 

I caught my first trout in the larger pond. It was a rainbow, about a foot long. I was with my brother, Scott, and a friend. We had hiked from our house, across a pasture and  marsh, and then clambered over a railroad grade to the pond. With our cane poles and Irish Setter, we probably looked like the cover of a Norman Rockwell painting. We fished off a short dock, with golfball-sized gobs of nightcrawlers.  (more…)

In the days when journalism at least pretended to have a code of ethics, I would never have been assigned the job of reviewing Fly Fishing for Pacific Salmon II, the new book by Les Johnson, Bruce Ferguson and with commentary by Pat Trotter. Les is a friend of mine. I have sat next to him at fundraisers. He has been instrumental in my speaking at several fly clubs and shows. I have guided Les and his wife, Carol, and my wife and I had dinner with them afterwords. Any editor with even a trace of professionalism wouldn’t allow me anywhere near a review of a Les Johnson book.

Well, things have changed a lot in journalism since I wrote  for newspapers. The AP’s Washington bureau chiece–the person who is overseeing its coverage of the presidential campgain this year–admits that he was interviewed for a position with the McCain campaign and has a chummy relationship with Karl Rove. Yet the wire service wants us to believe he is capable of writing objectively about the election! So, what the hell, I guess I can write a review of my friend’s new book. 

Actually, a review of Fly Fishing for Pacific Salmon II is pretty much superfluous anyway. When a new book comes out and it has Les Johnson’s name on it, you can count on it that it will be not only a good, it will be great. By himself, Les has a long and unmatched career of writing seminal, well-crafted, and informative books. His Sea-Run was the classic first book on coastal cutthroat, and Tube Flies,  which he co-wrote, helped launch the current juggernaut of interest in these flies. More recently, his new cutthroat book, Fly Fishing Coastal Cutthroat Trout was a superb analysis of everything you need to know about the life histories, habits, fly fishing and flies for the native cutthroat of coastal watersheds. (more…)

Bill McMillan occupies a singular position in Pacific Northwest fly fishing. There are plenty of celebrated fly fishers in our region–not a few who seemingly view being a “celebrated fly fisherman” as their life’s work. But Bill is the only angler I know who is a great and innovative steelhead fly fisherman, who has created flies that have become part of the fabric of Northwest steelheading, who has written a classic fly fishing book, and who is also  one of the sport’s most passionate and articulate advocates for wild fish.

 A legendary steelhead fly fisher, who honed his skills on the lower Columbia River tributaries, Bill nearly single-handedly revived dry line steelhead techniques for summer fish during the 1970s and early 1980s. His 1985 volume, Dry Line Steelhead, introduced a new generation of fly fishers to techniques such as waking, skating, the greased line, and the riffled-hitch. It also provided descriptions of his signature fly patterns, the Winter’s Hope, Paintbrush and Steelhead Caddis. (more…)