By Kirk Deeter

The "Going Deep" features I wrote for Field & Stream are some of my favorite stories I've ever written. I started with trout and that eventually led to bass and other species like pike and walleye.  The premise was simple: To truly understand fish, you have to "be the fish."  So I put on scuba gear, went below the surface, and watched what fish did as anglers were casting at them. The reason I like these stories so much is because I learned tons as I was producing them. We'd boil the information down into magazine feature packages, but there was always enough information to make a book...

Which is what my friend Geoff Mueller did in "What a Trout Sees: A Fly-Fishing Guide to Life Underwater." And I'd be jealous of Mueller for producing a book I wish I had done, but he did so in a way that I'm not sure I could have pulled off.
The lessons are clean and concise. The logic is plain. He answers questions I had never thought to ask. Mueller is a fantastic writer, and the descriptions in this book are easy to track. I'd describe it as a "text book" because the layout and format do indeed look very "instructional" (and I mean that as a compliment), but it's far more engaging than any text book I've ever read.

And oh, by the way, the bulk of the photographs were taken by some guy named Tim Romano. As you all know, Tim is one of the best in the business, and he worked wonders with the underwater housing for his cameras. I am very proud of my partner's work in this project.

If you want to climb the trout fishing learning curve quickly, you should buy this book. With a list price of $24.95, it's about 10 times less expensive, and 100 times more valuable, than the average guide trip.

Comments (7)

from Spencer Cook wrote 12 weeks 4 days ago

Well Kirk I am a big fan of your Going Deep article. I use it quite often to teach new comers the right way to fish. I greatly appreciate your work. If you wrote a book about that work, I would be first in line to buy it! This looks like an amazing book. I heard an interview Geoff did a while back and man I can't wait to read it! Thanks for the book review!

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from themadflyfisher wrote 12 weeks 4 days ago

Definitely a book I'll be picking up. Can't wait to check it out!

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from themadflyfisher wrote 12 weeks 4 days ago

Definitely a book I'll be picking up. Can't wait to check it out!

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from clinchknot wrote 12 weeks 4 days ago

I'm not sure there is a general concensus on what a trout sees. One a number of fronts there are contrarian studies that dispute a position. It ends up conjecture as to what a trout sees.

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from Koldkut wrote 12 weeks 3 days ago

What does ClinchFu see? Where's his book?

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from clinchknot wrote 12 weeks 3 days ago

Your favorite fu-fu would rather not see what a fish sees. I don't even want to know a fish is down there where I am fishing. Kind of embarrassing to have fish down there, and not catch any. When I get skunked I'd rather believe there were just no fish. But I did take a good dunkin last fall, and ended up swiming to shore in my waders. I had a first hand view of what was down there.

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from HandiFly wrote 10 weeks 5 days ago

It is worth noting that a Kindle edition is available for $9.95

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from Koldkut wrote 12 weeks 3 days ago

What does ClinchFu see? Where's his book?

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from Spencer Cook wrote 12 weeks 4 days ago

Well Kirk I am a big fan of your Going Deep article. I use it quite often to teach new comers the right way to fish. I greatly appreciate your work. If you wrote a book about that work, I would be first in line to buy it! This looks like an amazing book. I heard an interview Geoff did a while back and man I can't wait to read it! Thanks for the book review!

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from themadflyfisher wrote 12 weeks 4 days ago

Definitely a book I'll be picking up. Can't wait to check it out!

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from themadflyfisher wrote 12 weeks 4 days ago

Definitely a book I'll be picking up. Can't wait to check it out!

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from HandiFly wrote 10 weeks 5 days ago

It is worth noting that a Kindle edition is available for $9.95

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from clinchknot wrote 12 weeks 4 days ago

I'm not sure there is a general concensus on what a trout sees. One a number of fronts there are contrarian studies that dispute a position. It ends up conjecture as to what a trout sees.

-1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from clinchknot wrote 12 weeks 3 days ago

Your favorite fu-fu would rather not see what a fish sees. I don't even want to know a fish is down there where I am fishing. Kind of embarrassing to have fish down there, and not catch any. When I get skunked I'd rather believe there were just no fish. But I did take a good dunkin last fall, and ended up swiming to shore in my waders. I had a first hand view of what was down there.

-1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

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All submitted comments are subject to the rules set forth in our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.