Stillwater Book Recommendations

[FLGator]

Any "must have" stillwater books on the market?

[Sourdoughs]

That's pretty general - what sort of book, exactly? Tactics, patterns, stories?

As far as patterns & tactics go, "Fly Patterns for Stillwaters" by Philip Rowley is excellent.

[Roper]

Most anything by Brian Chan or Phil Rowley...

[Mike Monsos]

All the above pluse Dave Hughes, another one of my favorite writers. Stillwater Tactics and Fishinig the Seasons. Essential Flies is also a nice resource for tying. Brian Chan is the one who's book that introduced me to fishing a Chironomid with success. I am hooked on that style of fishing for a portion of every trip to a lake. When it's good it's great!
Mike

[Jim Reed]

My arsenal of books includes, Fly fishing Desert & High Arid Lakes by Steve Probasco, Fly Patterns for Stillwaters by Phil Rowley and one by Brian Chan and Skip Morris. They all have great info:

[FLGator]

Appreciate the recommendations. I am looking for something akin to a "stillwater bible" similar to Trey Comb's bluewater and steelheading books and Dec Hogan's steelhead title.

[Trout Master]

Nathan Caproni's Washingtons Best Lake Fly Fishing is the book I bought 12 years ago and have been trying to fish all of the mentioned lakes. Not quite there but have fished most of them. Good tactic's etc in the books.

[Bob Martin]

All of the books previously listed are good ones. If you fish the Lakes of British Columbia, I would add to the list: Kamloops, by Steve Raymond; Best of BC Lake Fishing, by Karl Bruhn; The Gilly, by Alfred Davy; and for Washington's High lakes, Dave Shorett's books. Also, Lake fishing With a Fly, by Ron Cordes and Randall Kaufmann has much useful information on technique, patterns, etc. Some of these are probably out of print but they're apt to pop up at used book shops, garage sales, etc.

[sprintcar13]

I have fly fishing washington lakes or somthing like that the book is at my grandmas it is by Brian Chan and Skip Morris it has tactics, flys to use and how to use them, how to find fish and equipment needed for fly fishing.

[MrP]

For our fly club library I just purchased "Stillwater Solutions: Recipes Vol. I" by Chan and Rowley. It's got a bit of a unique format and comes with a DVD. It's spiral bound and constructed with a fold out triangle base so it can sit at your bench while you tie. It has pictures, tying instructions and fishing tips for each particular fly.

[lee sieckmann]

Marv Taylors books are interesting reading. If you can find vol 2, Pieces of the Puzzle, I'd grab it. Its got some real good info, and if you read it close there are some tips that can only be gained by years of fishing.

[Tony the Trout]

Most anything by Brian Chan or Phil Rowley...

iagree

[nz trout bum]

Denny Rickards and I do not always see eye to eye but "Stillwater Fly Fishing for Trophy Trout" is hard to beat. His discussion of behavior, weather, moon phase and habitat is insightful. His style is not to fish from an anchored boat but not exactly trolling either. Covers a lot of water though and his patterns are effective from New Zealand to Montana to British Colombia. Will try them in Argentina next week but expect they will fish there as well. I actually rate this book above Philip Rowley's. W

[troutpocket]

I like Denny Rickards' book as well. The writing style is an acquired taste but the info is excellent . . .and his patterns are effective and simple ties.

Is it spring yet??

[Richard]

As far as patterns & tactics go, "Fly Patterns for Stillwaters" by Philip Rowley is excellent.


A must have book. To me, one of the coolest things about Phil's books, other than the patterns just flat catch fish, is that he describes how and when to use them.

Phil is a great fisherman, a great ambassador to the sport, and an all-around great guy. You must buy this book. :thumb:

[Rory McMahon]

i forget the exact name but something like Morris and Chan on Fly Fishing Trout Lake, by Brian Chan and Skip Morris

[DB]

One book I'd recommend purely for the methods for lake fishing and to get you thinking about what you're trying to imitate is My way with Trout by Aurthur Cove. He's an English angler who wrote this back in the 80's but was one of the European anglers first to clearly describe effective ways to fish for trout in lakes on the fly, especially the nymph and he realized the importance of the buzzer (chironomid) in the trouts diet. Some of it is a little outdated re tackle but he was an advocate of 20 ft+ leaders and so on, he also partially greased his leaders to see the take rather than an indicator. Anyway I thought it was great book and a lot of what he writes about is readily applicable to the US or anywhere with torut and a lake. It's funny too in a 'times have a changed' way as he liked a smoke and there's tons of shots of him with a cig in his mouth (even the cover I think) and few timing references related to having a smoke, like 'cast your fly, light a cigarette, take a couple of drags and begin a slow figure 8 retrieve...' On a final note he was the first angler who I'd read who tied the body round the bend of the hook to give the nymph a more natural look, typically here he's talking about chronies.


Dave

[Loopy]

One book I'd recommend purely for the methods for lake fishing and to get you thinking about what you're trying to imitate is My way with Trout by Aurthur Cove.
Dave

Thoroughly endorse "My way with Trout" by Arthur Cove and would urge a look at a book by G Fraser "mastering the nymph" another excellent read.

:thumb:

[Ford_Fenders]

Old school but one of my favorites as a kid:

http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/8663/thebible0jw.jpg

[BruceAC]

though my experience base is limited, Denny Rickards and Skip Morris gave very good presentations at the Monroe/Sportsman's show today...they are also well published...i like the way they deliver their information