The New American Trout Fishing [Paperback]

John Merwin (Author), Ernest Lussier (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1997

A comprehensive and insightful guide to the art of fly fishing, The New American Trout Fishing provides a mix of advice and distilled science born of decades of experience and research by one of America's top fly fishermen. A short history of fly fishing in America is followed by a detailed, modern look at the ecology of American trout streams - essential information for anyone wishing to catch more and larger trout more often. The next six chapters provide extensive profiles of brook, brown, cutthroat, and rainbow trout, as well as a revealing and helpful look at the behavioral basis for the trouts' well-known tendency to feed selectively while often ignoring an angler's best efforts at catching them. There are detailed discussions on what's new in fly rods, lines, and leaders, along with instruction on specialized casting techniques tailored to what's newest in tackle. The fundamentals of aquatic entomology get a refreshing, new look, together with a review of fly tying in theory and practice. Additional and separate chapters provide detailed, on-the-stream directions for fishing major artificial-fly types - dry, wets, nymphs, emergers, streamers, and terrestrials. Advice on fishing special situations - small streams, high and low water - is followed by appendixes with instructions for tying the trout fisherman's essential knots, and the dressing for tying ninety-four of the most important trout flies - all shown in full color. Already acclaimed as the "ultimate answer book, " this remarkably engaging work is richly illustrated with angling anecdotes from California to Maine. Whether you've just bought your first rod or have been on the stream for years, The New American Trout Fishingis a necessary read and singular reference.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This is a delightful, well-written, and personal overview of freshwater fly fishing, emphasizing not only recent developments in tackle, equipment, and technique but also increased scientific knowledge about trout behavior and ecosystems. The book is divided into five parts dealing with trout species, tackle, aquatic entomology, artificial flies, and presentation, plus a miscellaneous section on water, fly tying, and etiquette; appendixes treat knots and fly patterns. Each chapter includes personal anecdotes from other prolific angling authors. Aimed at informed readers and filled with historical, biological, and bibliographic references, this book is a thorough, readable, and welcome work in a crowded field. Highly recommended for public and academic libraries, particularly in Northern states.
- Roland Person, Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Dedicated trout fishers will find whatever they're looking for herein. The less-than-dedicated, however, will suffer serious eye-glazing as the many, many pages (for a trout tome, after all) inflict information overload. It seems that zillions of volumes on fly-fishing for trout have been printed all too recently and that Merwin condenses just about all of them into one relatively large mass. From his effort, a fly fisher for trout will learn how the various trout species came to be (not all are North American natives), the many techniques and tactics for catching them, and healthy doses of fly-fishing history and trout stream ecology. Meanwhile, average persons (non-trout nuts) may marvel at trout anglers' ability to go on and on about the wonders and the glories of this type of fishing. Still, if you need a really good text on all aspects of fly-fishing for trout in streams (a rather specialized form of fishing), this is one of the best to come bobbing along lately. Jon Kartman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Macmillan General Reference (May 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0028616812
• ISBN-13: 978-0028616810
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,094,425 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An encyclopedia that's fun to read, June 7, 2000

By 

Robert A. Terrell - See all my reviews

This review is from: The New American Trout Fishing (Paperback)

John's Merwin has provided a work that can easily be treated as a reference book (for merely looking up some quick information) but is also enjoyable enough to read straight through. The whole book is sectioned off well and is documented in such a way that the reader can quickly find any information he/she may need (from tying blood knots to the recipe for a hare's ear nymph). You don't have to read the entire book to get yor money out of it. You can easily use it as a reference work for just looking up needed fishing information. On the other hand, the book is quite enjoyable to read and is not like reading a dictionary. I'm an intermediate fisher who has been actively fly-fishing for arond four years and I learned quite a bit from this book.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy it for the Art, October 17, 2003

By 

"quincunxtangle" (Oneonta, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The New American Trout Fishing (Paperback)

Ernest Lussier was my beloved high school art teacher and I can say with confidence that the illustrations in this book alone make it worth buying. Miss you, Mr Lussier.