Fly Fishing for Dummies [Paperback]

Peter Kaminsky (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 17, 1998

If you believe what you read, fly fishing requires the touch of a surgeon and the spirit of a Zen master. Forget about what you’ve heard about f ly fishing in the past, if you really want to learn how to fly fish all you need are the right tools, proper technique, and a positive attitude. With these essential elements you can begin to enjoy the sport of fly fishing in no time.

For those of you who have never held a fly rod, you will find enough information here to get you started. You won’t be forced to discover everything all at once. If you’re already a fly rodder, you’ll find plenty of tips and techniques that you can turn to right away without going through the basics all over again. And if you’re a master angler, you will find this book a handy reference for all kinds of questions.

Fly Fishing For Dummies explores the fun and fundamentals of fly fishing—from tying flies to reeling in your catch. Whether you’re a novice or a veteran angler, here you? 8217;ll find all the tips and tricks for choosing the right kind of gear; how and where to catch freshwater and saltwater fish; visual examples of the art of casting; and how to read the water, wade, cast, and (finally) land yourself a whopper. You’ll also find out how to:

• Identify the best fish to fly fish for—from rainbow trout to black marlin
• Improve your catch and release techniques
• Continue your education through recommended references and online resources
• Choose the right rod, reel, and gear to land the fish you are after
• Master all the casting styles you’ll ever need
• Tie your own flies or choose pre-made ones proven to get results

With over 150 illustrations and proven advice, Fly Fishing For Dummies is a great primer on fly fishing’s essential elements.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

For the unschooled, fly-fishing can appear impossibly difficult and otherworldly, the province of tweedy sportsmen with enough time and money to look credible on the water. But as Peter Kaminsky explains in the opening chapter, this graceful method of catching fish doesn't require "the touch of a surgeon, the body mechanics of Tiger Woods, and the spirit of a Zen master." What it does require is a little dedication and good instruction--and Fly Fishing for Dummies delivers on the latter. This crash-course tutorial removes the mystery with chapters on gear, flies, casting, and fishing strategies. There's even a chapter on some of the great North American trout rivers. And the tone is far from tweedy, with plenty of good humor and trivia mixed into the excellent info. --Langdon Cook, Sports & Outdoors editor

From the Back Cover

"Well-written and superbly organized, this book is a great primer."
— Joe Healy, Saltwater Fly Fishing magazine

150+ illustrations will have you casting and catching in no time!

The fun and easy way® to get hooked on fly fishing

If you think fly fishing is only for tweedy uppercrust types, think again! With some basic gear and the help of this friendly guide, you too can experience the fun of casting a fly and reeling in a big rainbow trout. From buying a rod to finding the best fly fishing destinations, it delivers just what you need to get hooked.

Praise for Fly Fishing For Dummies

"It’s all here . . . from choosing gear, to learning how to cast, to reading water, to catching fish."
– Jay Cassell, Sports Afield magazine

"With relentless wit, Peter Kaminsky has peeled away all the mysticism, social tone, and other impediments to learning about this sport."
– Paul Schullery, author of American Fly Fishing

Discover how to:

• Choose the right gear
• Buy or tie basic flies
• Perfect your casting
• "Read" water and locate fish
• Fish the top U.S. trout rivers
• Cast for bass, saltwater fish, and more

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (April 17, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076455073X
• ISBN-13: 978-0764550737
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #600,737 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

104 of 106 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Doesn't contain the right info for a beginner/novice., November 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Fly Fishing for Dummies (Paperback)

As a complete novice to fly fishing, I bought this book hoping that it would give me all the info I needed to get started. Unfortunately, it didn't.

I don't really understand what the author had in mind when writing this book - it's obviously targeted at the beginner/novice, but doesn't have nearly enough info in some areas to get a beginner going, and at the same time has lots of extraneous info that's of absolutely no use to a beginner.

Specifically, the section on casting is woefully insufficient for someone who's never cast a flyrod before (just a few pages) and there's absolutely no information at all on what to do after you're got your fly out there. Do you cast upstream or down? let it drift or retrieve it? how fast? How to fish dries vs. wets vs. streamers vs. nymphs? Nothing. Nada. Zero.

At the same time, the author devotes 60 pages to fly tying. Now I suppose that folks who get involved in flyfishing may want to start tying their own flies at some point, but is it really appropriate to have 60 pages of step-by-step instructions on how to tie 12 different flies in a book targeted towards folks who've never fly fished before?

Overall, I can't recommend this book to anyone - if you're a beginner it won't tell you what you need to know to get started, and if you're more experienced you already know 90% of what's in here.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Falls short for beginners, May 26, 2006

By 

Joe (AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fly Fishing for Dummies (Paperback)

I'm a big fan of the Dummies series but found this one very disappointing. The author goes into excruciating detail about some peripheral parts of fly fishing, while completely glancing over some of the essentials.

Much of the content is anecdotal at best, to the point that it feels like the author is just trying to fill up pages. For instance, he devotes two entire pages to what kind of vest he thinks you should have, and the section on sunglasses is almost laughable. The chapter on "Great Rivers for Trout" across the US belongs in a niche guide and feels hopelessly out of place in a beginner book.

In the mean time, Kaminsky completely skims over the essentials. While there are plenty of lectures about why you should get a case for your rod, the section on casting feels like an afterthought. I find it difficult to believe that the author has ever tried to teach a beginner to cast, nor could any beginner (like myself) learn to cast from his brief explanation. Other areas that left we with a lot of questions include fly selection, how fly fishing is affected by the seasons, and actual fishing strategies and techniques.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Flyfishing for Dummies Review#1, July 10, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Fly Fishing for Dummies (Paperback)

When I first started to flyfish back in the day, this was the only guide I had to get me started. Fortunately, it gave me the first step I needed to have the confidence to get out there and keep trying to catch bigger and better fish. A few years later I'm still flyfishing and rarely if ever get skunked. Over the years I've read endless amounts of articles, books, you name it, but this one covered everything I needed to know. To this day still haven't learned many other good tips that hadn't already been covered by Kaminsky. I recommend this book to everyone who wants to flyfish but doesn't quite got the hang of it yet.