Fly Fishing: Learn from a Master

As a beginner I've determined that fly fishing must be the most complex and challenging endeavor known to man. The amount of information to be absorbed and the necessary level of skill in execution boggle the mind. So I was reeled in by the promise on the back cover of this book: "If you want to learn fly fishing but are intimidated by its apparent complexity, this is the book for you". After reading it my initial impression is confirmed - there's nothing "apparent" about the complexity of this sport. It's dizzyingly complex. If the book doesn't unlock the mysteries of the sport it nevertheless provides a interesting overview of the subject matter. Topics include angling history, fly fishing equipment, casting technique, trout psychology, understanding streams lakes and ponds, introductory etymology, hooking, playing and wading techniques, and more. The author, clearly a master of the sport, writes with a humility that must be borne of hard experience. Here is an example. "...fish raised in the wild are far from stupid; in fact, they often prove to be brilliant when matched against a fisherman. This brilliance, of course, is not manifested in the form of reasoning, but rather in an acute, instinctive cunning". Or talking about the trout's senses: "Whatever you believe to be the most important of its senses, you must keep in mind that all the fish's senses are highly developed, subtle, instinctive, and adaptive, and that it constantly uses them to survive. Fishermen are just one, if perhaps the noisiest, smelliest, and most visible, of his enemies". Get the idea? The book has many illustrations which are helpful in communicating the vast array of things that the reader doesn't yet know or fully understand. And we haven't even gotten to the discussion of leaders, tippets, line tapers, densities, and on and on and on. Anyway, all this having been said, I recommend this book. While it won't make anything about fly fishing easy, it represents a useful starting point on a lifetime of discovery.