Customer Reviews

Flyfisher's Guide to Alaska: Includes Light Tackle

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Writing a guide to fly-fishing in the huge state of Alaska must be extremely difficult - tantamount to writing a book like "A Fly-Fisherman's Guide to Everything West of the Mississippi." At the outset, the author would have to make some important decisions on which of the literally thousands of the state's waters should be included in the book, and which waters should be left out.

A logical way to start would be to divide the state into geographical regions, which is what "A Flyfisher's Guide to Alaska" does, then decide what to highlight in each region. In this book, the authors have done a commendable job surveying a large number of diverse of waters; however, in choosing which waters to exclude, they have left out some important fishing destinations, while at the same time including some inconsequential locations.

But before criticizing it too much, I should point out that certain portions of the book are very well done. The regional sections on Bristol Bay, the Kenai Peninsula, and especially Kodiak Island are excellent, providing a high level of detail, with good maps and helpful sidebars containing notes on fishing gear and techniques, options for do-it-yourself fishing, and how to deal with ever-present grizzly bears. Throughout the book, there are lists of contact addresses that the reader will find useful: names and telephone numbers of hotels, fishing guides, air and boat charter businesses, and government offices for each regional selection. The run-timing charts for fish are accurate and helpful, and prospective visitors should pay particular attention to them. In Alaska, where much of the fishing is dependant on anadramous fish, proper timing is everything.

But the book falls seriously short for its lack of coverage of some areas. For example, anyone wanting to use the book to gather information on pike fishing in Alaska would be disappointed to learn that perhaps the state's single best location for huge pike has been ignored. The Innoko River, a tributary to the Yukon, is where the current state record pike was taken, and is recognized by pike aficionados as quite literally one of the world's top destinations for these ferocious fish. Granted, this is a remote river, but no more so than many of the other places that are included in the book. I was very surprised to see no mention of it at all.

Perhaps the most serious omission is the waters of Prince William Sound and the streams located along the Gulf of Alaska from the town of Cordova to Yakutat. This latter region boasts some of Alaska's best coho salmon rivers, which, due to their size, clarity, and huge runs of salmon, are very popular with fly-fishermen. Prince William Sound itself is a large area of countless islands, bays, and estuaries. While the Sound is not a leading fly-fishing destination, it nevertheless contains some important waters, especially for anglers concentrating on pink or coho salmon. Because of its relatively easy access through the ports of Seward, Whittier, Cordova, or Valdez, (note the key word relatively - few waters in Alaska are easy to access), the book would have been much improved by mentioning at least an overview of the Sound and the Gulf Coast.

The coverage for Southeast Alaska has comparable problems. Similar to Prince William Sound, Southeast Alaska is a region of steep-sided islands and fjords and dominated by small streams - few of which could be considered destinations unto themselves, such as the major rivers on the Kenai Peninsula or Bristol Bay - yet these numerous waters still provide a very high-quality angling experience. In this section, the author chooses to emphasize the fishing adjacent to the road systems of the region's small towns, presumably because that's where he assumes most anglers are likely to concentrate their efforts. In doing so, however, some of the territory's best angling is overlooked: many of the lakes, streams, and estuaries located only a short boat or float plane ride from the various towns provide much superior angling than those found on the road systems. For example, the section on Sitka has several paragraphs discussing road-system lakes that provide uninspiring angling for stunted resident trout. Yet within easy striking distance of Sitka are lakes and streams that are enormously productive, with multiple species of fish, and certainly worth the trouble and expense to visit. The book should have emphasized coverage of these places instead.

An example of how the author could have improved the Southeast section is his handling of the area near the town of Wrangell. Here, he provides the reader with information on some of the easily accessible roadside fishing near town, yet he also provides detail on more remote areas that are not only close-by but have outstanding fishing and wilderness characteristics.

All-in-all, the book is an admirable effort and is generally a useful reference - particularly for some regions of the state. But I look forward to its second edition - one that is backed up by even more research, and one that re-examines the choices on listed fishing spots.

I don't think this book is the best Alaskan fishing book out there, but it is a close second. Renee Limeres' Alaska Fishing is the best book out there right now. Both these books stand heads and shoulders above the others out there. This book doesn't cover as many locations as Limeres, nor is it as solid across all sections (like fish natural history etc.) but it is well worth the money.

Don't be afraid of the title if you are not a fly-fisherman. The author often mentions situations where you should put the fly rod down and fish spin casting and all the information is just as useful for fly and spin fishermen.

Too bad the publishers didn't put a photo of this book here. I think it would sell better with a visual. I was definitely pleased when my copy came. A quick flip through the well-designed pages made me realize this book is better than nearly everything that's out there right now. Be warned though, the book has the dimensions of a phone book. Maybe more like a Milepost. It is not pocket or pack friendly. You might want to use it to plan your trip first, then photocopy the maps and sections that you'll want on your trip.

This is definitely a good book for those planning their first self guided trip. It has good coverage of the most popular area and covers the road system well. For the Anchorage bound fishermen, it has the best Anchorage area fishing coverage I've seen.

This book is a well-above-average addition to what has become tightly held information: where and how to fish in Alaska. Most of the book concerns the oft-fished road-accessible areas; but it does include more detailed discussions of several of the more popular float-fishing rivers, a nice chapter on Kodiak Island, and shorter but interesting chapters on the aleutians - none of which are available in other recent books. The coverage of southeast alaska was really too terse to be of much value; what was there was again road-fishing which is perhaps of use to first time travelers or for cruiseship travelers passing thru - but too busy for seasoned fly fishermen who live in or frequent Alaska. Some chapters were unbalanced - the Yakutat area gives far more than is necessary about the Situk river (which flows thru town), and not enough about others (almost to the point of inaccuracy of facts - e.g., the Italio cabin is about 1/4 mile or less from the river, not 3/4 of a mile). The most glaring omission was the lack of any discussion of the entire gulf coast between Yakutat and Valdez, including Cordova,Prince William Sound, and points inbetween - its hard to believe anyone writing a book that includes silver salmon fishing without ever once mentioning this area. Other annoyances were an index that was woefully incomplete and poorly edited, the overabundance of bear warning stories (an ounce of prevention is fine, but this is several pounds - in a book that's supposed to be about fishing), and far too many pages spent on local community information, fishing regulations, and/or pictures that are of very limited use and available elsewhere. The value per unit book thickness is not high.

What I found most satisfying was the willingness of the author to occasionally talk about an offbeat hotspot, such as irish creek. Or advising a non-intuitive technique that actually works - like dead-drifting lemming patterns (novices just can't resist working this like a bass-popper and Haugen's right - its not fished this way).

The book has a number geographical and factual errors on some locations - which I won't go into - but these are easily distinguished by their overall lack of detail (usually, if there's 3 or less sentences, it's cause to doubt). But the detailed chapters are quite good and accurate. For those who haven't ever been to alaska, there's actually enough to plan a trip. For those who have spent alot of time there, there is still some revelation. The rest I'll keep to myself.

A long time has passed since 1997, when Limeres and Pederson published the 2nd edition of Alaska Fishing, the most comprehensive treatise then available. Few attempts have been made to improve on it; this book may not replace or exceed it - but it does provide more detail on several areas and is by far the best book since - accordingly, I rate it a "strong buy".

This book is packed with all sorts of detailed, useful information for much of Alaska's destinations. Though it probably doesn't cover everything perfectly (Alaska is a big place) I have compared what the author says to some of my personal experiences, and he is quite accurate.

This book goes beyond, the usual "I'll give you the run timings and list guides for you" approach -- it has some real info in it that is good. Though flyfishing is in the title, Haugen recognizes the limitations of that for some of the destinations (e.g., King salmon in most places) and mentions gear techniques also.

This book gives you more of a "where to go" feel and even specific directions. I followed the directions on one of the suggested pages and it worked out great.

The only knock is that it isn't as comprehensive as I would like. There are areas I wanted more info about.

I would suggest also getting "Alaska Fishing" by Limeres and Pederson. Together, you get a lot of helpful information.

If I had to choose just one of the books, I would buy Haugen's book, without question. I own both books and refer to his most often.

Anyone flyfishing in Alaska needs this book. Tons of info and over 100 maps. Tells you where to go, when to go, and exactly how to get there. Also, if you float remote rivers like me, float trips, this book has very detailed info on dozens of rivers in Alaska. It covers some of the more popular float trips and then some. A must have book. This book and Troy Letherman's "Topwater, Flyfishing Alaska.." are my favorite two books on Alaska fishing. I have about 13, but these two are must haves.

I bought this a few months before my trip to Alaska. I studied the book and read the chapters that covered the places I would visit and the water I would want to fish. I was able to rule out places based on location and quickly was able to get a list of places to visit. I was going to Alaska via cruise, so my time was limited. I was able to find places to fish at every spot where we were there for an extended time. The maps were great and accurate. Once I got to a spot I knew right away where to go after I got my bearings. I would recommend you take the book with you and a compass or GPS. One of my favorite spots was a small lake in Sitka. I had to climb a mountain, found the lake, and caught 3 Brook Trout in the short time I was there. I highly recommend this. Make sure you read the book before you go, look up the sites on the Internet, have a map, take the tackle recommendations, and have fun.