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Fly Fishing Gear photo

tombook

What do you think the three questions I get asked most often about fly fishing are?

Okay, no suspense, I’ll tell you. 1. Where’s my favorite place to fish? 2. What’s the best fish I ever caught? And 3. What’s the most important item of gear for a newcomer to the sport?

I’m not copping out on you, but I have no set answers for questions 1 or 2… My favorite place to fish is “wherever I’m fishing right now.” The best fish I ever caught… mmm, yeah, there are many contenders, but in the end, I love them all.

As for 3, on the other hand, I do have a firm answer. You see, I think the most important weapon in the arsenal of any would-be great angler isn’t a rod, or a reel, or a line, or that killer fly… it’s what’s between his or her ears. Knowledge trumps all. Doesn’t matter if you’re sporting that $700 fly stick if you don’t know how, when, where, and why to use it the right way. Thus, the number one gear advice I can give to the newbie is a good book on the basics of fly fishing.

To that end, I’ll call your attention to a great new title by Tom Rosenbauer called the Orvis Guide to Beginning Fly Fishing. It is, after a thorough reading, the best intro tip and technique book on fly fishing I have seen… and I have read Rosenbauer’s books on fly fishing (and many others) for about 25 years now.

It’s concise. It’s honest. It’s accurate. And it includes 101 simple how-to tips for anyone who wants to get into fly fishing, written in a way that the novice can understand, and the self-professed expert can appreciate. Its color-coded sections cover everything from casting, to equipment, from trout fishing, to saltwater. It is, in effect, a recipe book. You want to cook up some fly fishing moxie? Then Rosenbauer has laid it all out for you like Emeril Lagasse… all the “Bam” you need to catch fish on a fly is right here.

Best of all, the price is $12.95.

Sure, nothing written in a book, nor in a magazine, nor certainly on a blog like this, can ever top the time you actually spend on the water, learning and doing for yourself. But, you tell me… before you buy that $100 or $200 or $700 for a rod… isn’t it worth paying the equivalent of a medium take-out pizza to stuff your brain with some insights also?

Deeter