Customer Reviews

Fly Fishing for Dummies

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

This book does not tell you what you need to know to get started in fly fishing. Armed only with this book your initial enthusiasm will degrade into frustration. Fly fishing is a very knowledge and technique intensive sport and this book is very spotty here, although an enjoyable read. Try the L.L.Bean Fly-Fishing Handbook or some other book which gives you details on casting, strategies, and techniques and from there you will need to find a knowledgeable friend or guide to progress.

I have been fly fishing for just over a year and decided to pick up this book to get another opinion on choosing flies, on-stream techniques, equipment to make everything a bit easier. Unfortunately, this book did nothing to help. Even the section on tying knots was more hindering than helpful (and I already knew how to tie most of them!). I'm still on the search for a decent book, but let me tell you, it's definitely not this one.

This book is an OK overview of the sport but there are much better books out there. Fly Fishing (A Trailside Guide) by John Merwin is one. Merwin's book has extrememly colorful pictures that get you excited about fishing and the illustrations make it very easy to learn somewhat complicated knots. Fly Fishing for Dummies doesn't do a horrible job of explaining things but different books I've read do a much better job making it easier to learn and much more enjoyable.

I liked the book but found it to be a 'miss' on illustrations and specifics. For a Dummies book I expected there to be the maximum amount of examples on how to set up a new rod, real and leaders and tippets.

I am brand new to fly fishing. I have a full set up that needs to be rigged and I just did find the book to have a step-by-step area in the book to show you how and where you should tie you flies on your leaders/tippet. I think a section saying "So you bought a new rod, real, lines and flies and now you need to set it up to fish" would be a perfect chapter to add. Then the author can start breaking it down piece by piece and the myriad of options for tying and set up.

Overall it gives you the basic idea but I think the author may have lost the "you know nothing" perspective when writing this book. I do know more after reading it.

This book has been very informative on many things that I was not sure about, also tying of knots is made simple. I enjoy reading from it

I'm glad I had a basic knowledge of fly fishing before I read this book, or I would have been mislead and confused on many subjects. Some good information, some confusing information, and some incorrect information.

Very good transaction. Book was as listed, like new, and arrived earlier than I thought it would.