Customer Reviews

Pennsylvania Trout Streams and Their Hatches (Regional Fishing)

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3 star:		(2)
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Mr. Meck does an admirable job of profiling numerous Keystone State trout anglers and their home waters as a way of pursuing his subject matter. As a lifelong PA wild trout addict however, I think much of the information here is misleading, particularly to the fledgling fly fisher. Meck's concentration on the given hatches on a particular PA waterway is not tempered with an parallel explanations that in many cases, matching the hatches described is not necessary, let alone critical to success on the waterway being profiled. Or at it's worst, the hatch being profiled is not one that tends to interest trout on the subject stream. This can lead to situations where you get to see a decent hatch, but no fish. If Meck says a hatch exists on a given waterway, you can pretty well bank on it's being present. His research and hatch information is accuate. What cannot be banked on is the trout in the stream paying any attention to the hatch under discussion or even showing any preference for same in their feeding. This can be very confusing to the neophyte and many newcomers have to be disabused and "deprogrammed" of the notions Mr. Meck advances. All in all, if one remembers that Mr. Meck appears to be just as enamoured of insects as he of trout causing him to wax on at significant length about hatches that are in reality not all that important, this can be a useful introductory guidebook to Pennsylvania's trout streams. However, it's utility pales compared to that of the similiar Landis book. In my opinion, if you want a decent book to get started in the sport, the Meck book will do. If you want a PA stream guide that you will wear out over and over and will never outgrow as your knowledge increases, the Landis book is far superior.

I read a review saying that Charlie's book couldn't actually catch the trout. Well no kidding, however, it has led me to many unknown streams in the entire state. I have compared it to the Landis book and there is NO comparison. The Landis book contains NO hatch information. PA Trout Streams is THE guide book for flyfishing any of Pennsylvania's top streams. I wholeheartedly recommend it. Beware of imitators, stick with Charlie Meck. It has indepth information on where to fish, and the hatch information is second to none - Landis. I have both books, don't make my mistake, buy Charlie's books (PA trout and Mid Atlantic Trout Streams and Their Hatches), they won't let you down.

Do you want to catch fish, or match hatches? That's a real question that I pose to lots of my fly fishing buddies, and they often look at me like I'm asking them to chose between their arm and their leg. Meck does a thorough job of describing the various streams and creeks, but several things jumped out to me as I read through his thick tome:

First, almost all the fish pictured are 6-10 inches long, but described variusly as hefty or heavy.
Second, despite his constant harping on the various mayfly hatches and importance of each species, the largest fish figured (an 8 lbs.+ brown trout) was caught on a wooly bugger.
Third, no discussion at all is given to the importance of various aquatic invertebrates and vertebrates to a trout's diet. It's all mayflies all the time.
Fourth, you will certainly be able to catch some fish at the places Meck describes using his suggested mayfly patterns, but they're likely to be the same 6-10" trout that are figured in the text.

As a guide to the streams, it's only halfway useful. It will get you to the streams and describe what sorts of mayflies are present, but if you're interested in anything other than small fish, you'll need to look elsewhere for information.

I've always thought that it was a good sumation of all the information that you seemed to worm out of us and then present it in an intelligent form so that even I could read it and understand what you were talking about. Once again I wish to thank you. Curt Thompson.

I've always thought that it was a good sumation of all the information that you seemed to worm out of us and then present it in an intelligent form so that even I could read it and understand what you were talking about. Once again I wish to thank you. Curt.

Charlie is flawless in his information. The updated version has many new streams. His reviews are right on. I can't imagine fishing PA without it. This is the book that started all the other state fishing books.