Screaming runs, big, thrashing jumps, relentless power -- it's no wonder steelheading is an obsession for so many anglers. In Steelhead Dreams, Matt shares all you need to become a better steelhead fly fisherman, including: steelhead biology and habitat; reading and mastering the waters where they thrive; steelhead habits; techniques for all four seasons; effective presentations; tackle; plus best fly styles, casting tips, Great Lakes steelhead fisheries, tying tips, and so much more. If you are addicted to steelhead or look forward to becoming so, you must read this book to learn all you need to know about this wondrous fish and the techniques for catching them.

In this collection of essays, veteran fisherman Dennis Reid's beautifully crafted prose and thoughtful approach offer readers an informed and absorbing introduction to some of British Columbia and Alberta 's choicest sports-fishing destinations. From the Rockies to Barkley Sound, from the Columbia River gorge to the Queen Charlotte Islands, the places Reid visits and writes about are known and loved by globe-trotting fishers from all over the world. There are tales of the "ghosts of summer," summer steelhead that are spotted first by their shadows, of winter steelhead on the swung end of a spey cast, of motor-mooching among the boats gathered at northern saltwater rock walls, of the tug-of-war with galloping halibut. Conveying practical information in a lyrical style, Reid offers observations and commentary that will appeal to fans of such authors as Roderick Haig-Brown, Trey Combs, James Babb and Nick Lyons. Contact information for the fishing lodges featured in the essays is included in an appendix, for those who wish to plan trips to these locations.

Anders Halverson provides an exhaustively researched and grippingly rendered account of the rainbow trout and why it has become the most commonly stocked and controversial freshwater fish in the United States. Discovered in the remote waters of northern California, rainbow trout have been artificially propagated and distributed for more than 130 years by government officials eager to present Americans with an opportunity to get back to nature by going fishing. Proudly dubbed an entirely synthetic fish by fisheries managers, the rainbow trout has been introduced into every state and province in the United States and Canada and to every continent except Antarctica, often with devastating effects on the native fauna. Halverson examines the paradoxes and reveals a range of characters, from nineteenth-century boosters who believed rainbows could be the saviors of democracy to twenty-first-century biologists who now seek to eradicate them from waters around the globe. Ultimately, the story of the rainbow trout is the story of our relationship with the natural world--how it has changed and how it startlingly has not.

This book will give the fly fishing beginner the basic knowledge to catch steelhead trout. From equipment, materials, techniques, to basic simple strategies to help succeed in this endeavor. My hope is that anyone that sits down with this book and reads it can go out and immediately be successful in becoming a great steelhead fly fisherman.

Steelhead is the most sought-after Great Lakes species, attracting fly fishers from around the country. Guide extraordinaire Karl Weixlmann provides a thorough compendium of information, tips, and tech niques for any angler chasing the elusive salmon, trout, and steelhead of the Great Lakes. Includes recipes for 86 flies and photo sequences of five casting and fishing techniques.

Here is great angling writing from the best writers in the business—from Tom McGuane to John McPhee to Lefty Kreh. With proceeds going to FishAmerica, to help keep waters and fish healthy, and the Future Fisherman Foundation for education programs for children, these articles include Joan Wulff’s look at the stages in an angler’s lifetime; John McPhee’s passage on our country’s “Founding Fish”–the American Shad; Dave Barry's not-so-reverent take on fishing; Dave DiBenedetto on migrating stripers; Monte Burke on record bass; President Jimmy Carter on his youth; and Ted Williams on the environment. And there are many more, every one a joy to read.

The tributaries that flow into Lake Erie provide some of the best steelhead fly fishing on the planet, as well as plentiful opportunities to catch salmon, brown trout, smallmouth bass, and other species. The 400 miles of southern Lake Erie shoreline in three states—Buffalo, New York at its eastern end; Toledo, Ohio, on its western flank; and Pennsylvania’s shoreline in the middle—is affectionately called “Steelhead Alley” by the tens of thousands of anglers that come to fish it. According to many, “the Alley” is the best location within the entire Great Lakes region to catch steelhead on a fly. This book is the culmination of over twenty years of guiding and fly fishing throughout the Alley. In addition to covering steelhead in depth, it also covers opportunities for smallmouth bass, lake run brown trout, lake trout, and the occasional chinook or coho salmon that you can catch on a fly, along with the best tributaries and shorelines in which to find them. The author shares his tips for timing the best fishing, reading the water, the most productive local fly patterns, and how to rig and fish for success. He covers detailed access, individual tributary descriptions and reports, many of which are relatively unknown, plus a few new techniques that will help you put some more fish in the net.

The most popular type of flies used by salmon and steelhead anglers today Over 500 different patterns with origins, distinguishing features, and tying details Catalog of flies with color photos and full dressings for each fly The world's leading fly tiers have contributed their own unique flies and fly-tying advice to this guide to the most widely-used flies for salmon and steelhead. Chris Mann's remarkable computer graphics convey the flies with clinical precision and color accuracy. He has selected over 500 of the best hairwing flies, based on those submitted by leading fly tiers from around the world. This book will inspire fly tiers to try a whole range of exciting new patterns, tying techniques, colors, and materials.

"Wow. What a book and what an undertaking. This should be a must-read for the most exacting fly fisherman. I would guess that it will be one of the most important reference volumes ever written. It should be read and re-read many times."--Ed Shenk, author of Ed Shenk's Fly Rod Trouting • Strategies for fooling tough fish in all types of environs, from tailwaters to spring creeks to Gaspe salmon streams • Breathtaking photos from the top streams around the world • Hundreds of innovative fly patterns with recipes and notes

Mist on the River chronicles a search for wild steelhead salmon in the remaining wilderness of the Pacific Northwest. As he says in the prologue to his book, Michael Checchio likes his fly-fishing on big western rivers where there are lots of mountains to look at, and where the steelhead don't come out of a hatchery but are born as nature intended, in the cold gravel of a clean stream. He finds all this and more up in British Columbia on his search for some of the last great runs of wild steelhead left on earth. Steelhead, the great sea-run rainbow trout of the Pacific Northwest, have long been sought by fly-fishermen. To Checchio, they have become a powerful symbol for the last of the wild in the Pacific Northwest and are to the Northwest what lions are to the Serengeti. And like their cousins, the salmon, they are among the species of fish most threatened by the modern world. A passionate fly-fisherman, Checchio discovered steelhead when he moved to the West Coast a little more than a decade ago. Fishing for ever diminishing returns of these magnificent fish in the rivers of northern California and Oregon, he dreamed of faraway waters in Alaska and Kamchatka, where he might find the last strongholds of wild steelhead remaining on the planet. Finally, he was able to take a dream vacation north to experience for the first time the steelhead Valhalla awaiting the fly-fisherman in British Columbia. Michael Checchio has been praised by the fishing community as a passionate writer on the plight of the great outdoors and the steelhead trout. But this book is not written just for the fly-fishing fraternity, but rather to the general reader who has a love of nature and the outdoors, and a deep interest in the fate of wildlife and the future of the environment. Checchio's personal steelhead journey leads him on a quest toward rivers and landscapes ever more pristine and wild, providing illuminating sights and thoughts along the way.