The Orvis Guide to Stillwater Trout Fishing
By Phil Rowley. Published by Lyons Press, 2021; $39.95, softbound.
As Phil Rowley makes clear in the introduction to his new book, The Orvis Guide to Stillwater Trout Fishing, there are good reasons why fly fishers should consider fishing lakes and ponds. You don’t have to deal with runoff and other swings in stream flow, for example, and crowding is less of a problem. The likelihood of hooking big fish is higher. You can often focus on hatch matching, given the range of insects and other prey usually found in lakes. You can fish at a more relaxed pace. There is a greater variety of fish species to pursue with fly gear.
Despite the strength of these arguments, however, noticeably fewer of us fish still waters than flowing waters. Other than the fact you can’t really Euro nymph a lake (although fishing with floating indicators works quite well), I suspect folks tend to shy away from still waters because they need to invest in a watercraft of some sort to fish many lakes effectively. And there’s surely also the intimidation factor — just how the heck does one begin to fish a huge expanse of pretty much featureless water?
Regarding that last question, an initial step might be to purchase The Orvis Guide to Stillwater Trout Fishing. It’s certainly the most up-to-date book on the subject of fly fishing for trout in lakes and ponds, and it’s also one of the best — if not the best — of the instructional manuals on the subject, useful for novice through expert fly fishers who would like to become more proficient at fishing lakes.
Using clear, succinct prose, simple illustrations and photographs, clean graphic design, and a logical sequence of topics (beginning with equipment, then moving on to trout habitat and habits, presentation techniques, and finishing with flies), Rowley provides a huge amount of information and advice in a manner that allows it to be easily understood. With 332 pages, not including index and forward, there is a lot to read and remember, but Rowley’s straightforward writing style helps keeps the reader engaged, and as for the remembering part, each chapter ends with a bullet list of concise “Takeaways” that summarize important points.
After listing the aforementioned reasons why we should consider fishing lakes, Rowley dives into the substance of how to do so, beginning with several chapters that present his thoughts and preferences with regard to equipment. Starting off with equipment is a smart decision, because fly fishers need to have the right gear, as well as some form of watercraft, to find trout and ply the techniques that Rowley presents in later chapters.
Of particular interest to me was the section on fly lines. I am surely not alone in that some of my reel spools hold lines that are many years old and that perhaps should be replaced. Rowley gives a thorough overview of the types of lines available these days, and he highlights the characteristics a fly fisher should seek when considering various techniques for stillwater fly fishing.
(A refreshing aspect of The Orvis Guide to Stillwater Trout Fishing is that Rowley rarely recommends specific brands or products, but instead tells you the qualities to look for, allowing you to make your own evaluation of what’s on the market. Not only is this good ethics, it helps you gain expertise.)
Rowley, by the way, routinely takes 12 lines with him on his fishing trips. Understanding that novice lake anglers are perhaps hesitant to make that level of investment, he does recommend three “core lines” that all lake fly fishers should have: a floating line, a clear or camo intermediate line, and a fast-sinking Type V line.
Besides covering rods, reels, and lines, Rowley also has a chapter that highlights “don’t leave home without them” accessories. A lot of these are the usual accoutrements carried by fly fishers, such as floatant and nippers, while others, less common, are useful specifically for lake fishing. These include binoculars, bobber stops, swivels, and even clothespins, which can secure leaders to rods when changing lines on the water. To help find trout, Rowley recommends bringing a deptherm, which is an underwater thermometer that allows an angler to sample temperatures at various depths to find the comfort zone where trout are likely to hold, and also a depth locator, commonly used in ice fishing, which he tells you how to fabricate if you can’t find one at a retailer. What’s interesting, however, is that Rowley discusses “sounders” — electronic fish finders — only in passing, stating merely that he considers them “an integral part of my stillwater equipment I never venture on the water without one.” His advice is to “purchase the most comprehensive [sounder] you can and learn how to use all of its features.” My takeaway is that it’s OK, and likely even wise, to start out with a deptherm and simple, inexpensive depth-finding device before investing in electronics.
When fishing a lake, Rowley says “mobility is critical,” which means the serious stillwater fly fisher should consider getting a watercraft. There are many options to consider, and Rowley focuses on three categories: float tubes, pontoon boats, and boats. The characteristics and the pros and cons of each are covered very well. (Left out are canoes, kayaks, and inflatable boats, for the simple reason that he does not have much experience with them.) Because Rowley believes that anchoring provides a number of benefits for fly-fishing anglers, he goes into detail with regard to the “art of anchoring,” something to which perhaps the majority of float tubers have given little thought.
As for terminal tackle, the chapter on leaders, knots, and droppers opens with the statement that “fly-fishing leaders, knots, and dropper options garner an incredible amount of discussion and debate I try to keep my approach to stillwater leaders, knots, and droppers simple.” This is an admirable goal, and Rowley achieves it. He tells you what he prefers and why, and knots and dropper rigs are well described with text and illustrations. Some of this information has benefit as well for stream fishers — Rowley’s sliding dropper with multiple stops, for example, would certainly be useful for nymphing.
Following the discussions of equipment, Rowley next gets into the character of still waters and their inhabitants with chapters on “how lakes work,” “what trout eat,” and “how to find trout in lakes.” These three subjects are common to books about lake fishing, but Rowley, given his many years of experience and observation, includes intriguing and useful details that are rarely found elsewhere. In the “What Trout Eat” chapter, for example, Rowley notes that “when touched, leeches curl up in a defensive ball. Trout often bump leeches to induce them to curl up so they are easier to consume. Many short strikes to our leech patterns are a result of trout trying to bump the pattern so it curls up like the naturals.” Utterly fascinating, and thought-provoking, too: how might one improve hookups, given these aspects of leech and trout behavior?
The largest section of The Orvis Guide to Stillwater Trout Fishing (roughly a third of the book) deals with fishing techniques, specifically: ways to induce a take through presentation and retrieves; floating-line nymphing techniques with and without indicators; floating-line techniques with dry flies; sinking-line techniques; attractor techniques; and loch-style fishing from an unanchored, drifting watercraft. Rowley’s discussions of each are thorough, and although there might be expert-level nuances left unmentioned (not being an expert, I couldn’t tell), it’s fair to say that mastery of the instruction Rowley provides will lead one to become a master stillwater fly fisher.
The Orvis Guide to Stillwater Trout Fishing closes with a discussion of flies for fishing lakes: key pattern elements (shape, size, color, behavior), categories of flies (suggestive, imitative, and attractive), weighting flies and tying balanced flies (with recommendations for matching tungsten bead diameter to hook size), when flies should be changed, fly storage, and favorite patterns. Of the 41 flies listed, the largest number, 8, are chironomid patterns, most of which are no smaller than size 14. This, to me, seems big for a chironomid imitation, but Rowley observes that a fly that is larger than the naturals can help draw the attention of trout.
In summary, if you’ve been wanting to fish lakes, but haven’t, this book will take you a huge distance up the learning curve. If you’re someone like me, who has been fishing lakes for years, even decades, but with perhaps a too narrow grasp on the hows and whys, this book will expand your perspective, enhance your repertoire of techniques, and improve your success. California’s trout lakes will become increasingly fishable over the next several months. Get reading.
— Richard Anderson
A Reel Job: Short Stories and Thoughts from the River
By Ryan Johnston. Self-published, 2022; $20 softbound and Kindle.
Over the years, a number of fly-fishing guides have told me they wanted to write a book about their experiences in a profession that immerses them in the wonders of the natural world and the foibles of its all-too-human inhabitants. Ryan Johnston, a well-regarded guide from Chico and also one of the founders of the nonprofit Cast Hope, followed through on his intentions and recently published A Reel Job: Short Stories and Thoughts from the River. In prose that’s light and engaging, Johnston’s 20 stories revolve largely around the humorous and sometimes touching incidents that occur with the individuals who hire him to get them into fish. By the end of the book, you’ll have a better feel for how guides view their job and even gain a few tips and insights that could improve your fishing. Each story is short and quickly read, making A Reel Job an appropriate addition to your travel bag for filling spare time at the lodge or hotel.
— Richard Anderson
StreamTime Maps
Available at many fly shops and online at https://streamtime.com.
To say that I moved to California only for the fishing would be too narrow — I’m sure I had other reasons to leave New Jersey, but at this late date, who remembers? My lodestar was The Angler’s Coast, by Russell Chatham, a literary rendering of a fly fisher’s world in Northern California. I read it like a novel, rooting for the characters and brooding over the plot twists.
On moving to Northern California, I was eager to fish those rivers and figured I could use some maps to get around. I found whole packets of them in a fly shop in San Francisco. I scooped them up as eagerly as a tourist in Tinseltown buying maps to the stars’ homes.
They were published by StreamTime, a firm located at that time in Cotati. Each fold-out map contained an overview of the river, seasonal timing runs for anadromous fish such as salmon, steelhead, and shad, plus motel, campground, and RV accommodations, mileage charts, fishing supplies and guides, and — most helpful — all the turnouts, marked trails, and access points leading to the most productive holes and riffles.
StreamTime was founded in 1987, only a year before I arrived in California. Its stated purpose was to provide fishing-access maps to anglers in pursuit of salmon, steelhead, and trout in Northern California and Southern Oregon. No doubt a few anglers still resent them for revealing too much, but these days, the very idea of a “secret fishing hole” sounds almost quaint. They were a godsend to me and saved me a lot of unnecessary bushwhacking as I proceeded to explore salmon and steelhead rivers north of my home in San Francisco.
First on my list were the Russian and Gualala Rivers, both day trips. The Russian was a lush vineyard stream with redwood groves in its lower reaches, and I used my StreamTime map to maneuver around a lot of private property. “Private property owners have closed numerous access points because a few individuals have abused their courtesy by littering and four-wheel drive horseplay,” I learned. On the Gualala, I enjoyed steelhead fishing under the redwoods in pools such as the Miner Hole:
“Excellent steelhead hole centered toward north bank. North bank access down steep slope with location shown below. Bait and lure fishing. South bank fishing from gravel bar is a favorite of fly-fishermen with shooting-head lines. Must wade from upstream to fish gravel bar or walk from County Park.”
For longer trips, I would drive north past the vineyards and hop fields to the misty redwood spires of the Eel River, where StreamTime warned me that the river could blow out quickly due to rain. “Anglers who want to fish during or immediately after rainy weather have the best chance of hooking up in the South Fork of the Eel River. About the only fishable area after a severe storm is south of Garberville between Piercy and Leggett.” Good advice, because it always seemed to be raining up there in the wintertime when the steelhead were in.
Farther north was the Smith River, a fishing paradise under ancient redwoods close by the Oregon border, a place where the largest steelhead and king salmon in California can be taken on a fly rod. “Fishing the Smith River is every angler’s realization of how a salmon and steelhead stream is supposed to look. Beautiful emerald water, redwoods, quiet, and BIG FISH! The California record steelhead, 27 lbs. 4 oz., was caught in the Smith River and it’s on display at the Rowdy Creek Fish Hatchery.” Heading inland, I would leave the coastal rainforest lushness for the turkey vulture canyons of the Trinity River. The drier conifer hills had a godforsaken look, and people said Sasquatch lived up there. Sure enough, my StreamTime map listed a Bigfoot Campground and Guide Service among the many accommodations. Just another Tom Robbins roadside attraction. The Trinity was studded with boulders, with steep forests and rock walls closing in. Five miles south of Weitchpec, where the Trinity meets the Klamath, I found the Cabin Riffle on what my map explained was a “poorly defined trail (that’s optimistic). Hiking boots best. This hike is for truly dedicated fishermen only.” I was rewarded with some of the sweetest fly water imaginable.
On to the Klamath. “Hey, steelhead fishermen! Tired of fighting the cold and wet to bag a steelie? Well, on the Klamath you can work on a tan and fish the huge runs of half-pounders in September and October. Klamath River steelhead are a special breed — smaller and more streamlined than their cousins from other rivers, but probably better fighters.” My StreamTime guide further assured me that larger steelhead were in residence in the winter months and that there was even a spring migration to be fished in the Klamath in March, a race of brawny steelhead bound for the Trinity.
California lacks a summer steelhead fishery, so high summer meant a trip to Southern Oregon to fish the Rogue River with dry f lies, something I couldn’t do in California in the wintertime. The Rogue’s most famous angler was a Californian named Zane Grey, so it is perhaps appropriate that StreamTime published an access map of that river for the rest of us Californicators, as they call us up in Oregon. High summer also meant trout fishing in the Golden State, and I used those StreamTime maps to find all the honey holes on the McCloud and upper Sacramento close by Mount Shasta and on the North Fork of the Feather River. I could have found them myself, I suppose, but why look a gift horse in the mouth?
As the StreamTime website says: “We’ve done the hard work for you . . . so you can have a relaxing and efficient fishing trip. We’ve driven every road that’s posted, hiked all marked trails, and checked GPS coordinates to provide you with all the information you need to get you to the water.”
They aren’t kidding. It’s all there. Every riffle and pool. No rut in the road or ripple on the water goes unremarked. A lifetime’s worth of local fishing knowledge — several lifetimes’ worth, really — is distilled into every map. They haven’t missed a trick. “We have grown from our first map to 17 rivers and continue to expand our portfolio along with updating several maps We do not pay ourselves for the work we do to develop the maps and sell them. All of the profits are given back to help preserve the beautiful rivers we are lucky enough to fish.”
The GPS coordinates are new. I’m analog, so I’ll continue to rely on my first editions. They are a joy to read and use, even if by now they’re ragged and falling apart. After all these years, I’m still a gobsmacked tourist clutching my maps to the stars.
— Michael Checchio
