After more than 25 years as Outdoor Editor of the Denver Post, Bob Saile has countless opinions and stories to share on the allure and adventure of trout streams and fly fishing. He serves up a compelling collection, with most of the essays set in the West. This is trout country -- the fish, the flies, the people, and the places. In his essay "Heavy Hitters, " Saile recalls as a boy reading an article by Joe Brooks about catching a brown trout on southwestern Montana's Big Hole River. For Saile, it was as if he was there. He experienced landing the trout as well as feeling a kinship with the writer. You will get the same feeling reading this lively collection which takes the reader from the South Platte to the Gunnison to the Pacific Northwest and the wilds of Alaska. "The fight carries out into the main current and the brown jumps, in that wild absolutely reckless way that browns have early in the fight, and I see it is a rather modest-size fish, maybe 13 inches.It looks good, though. Really good. Moments later, I have its black-and-red spotted side flashing back at me in the glint of water-reflected sunlight, and I extract the fly from the top jaw and slide the fish out of my hand into the flow. The first surface-take trout of the summer is in the books, and this pleases me. The rest will be in the gravy category now. And I know there will be more t come, because the river and the day have that look, that feel." The essays range from describing a bracing morning of ice fishing in Colorado, to the thrill of stalking an Alaskan salmon, to thoughts on fish management and its attendant bureaucracy. In Saile's conversations with other anglers, some well known, some not, but all of whom teach the author something about fishing and himself. If you care about rivers, trout, salmon, steelhead and fishing in general,this veteran writer and angler makes for a fascinating companion. For Saile,"the core difference between those who don't fish and those of us who do is as simple as this: We who do fish are especially blessed."

It is at once the most recognizable icon in Oregon and yet it is little known by the multitudes that live in the shadow of Mt. Hood. For the first time, this book opens up the fishing opportunity available on the slopes of Wy'East and in the rivers that flow out of its glaciers and gather water from its springs. In Fishing Mount Hood Country, authors Gary Lewis and Robert H. Campbell are joined by Dave Kilhefner, Terry Otto and Blake Miller as they tell tales of water, trout, steelhead and salmon and provide a detailed, thoughtful look at the best fly- and gear fishing in Mount Hood country. The book is divided into two sections - Western and Eastern - by the Pacific Crest Trail. Some of the best fishing in the state is found in these rivers and some of the most remote angling for wild trout is found here as well. Hike the trails that lead to rainbows and cutthroat in high country lakes and drift the whitewater for steelhead and salmon. Now you are Fishing Mount Hood Country.

Idaho's clear flowing rivers are world famous for fly fishing, but finding that elusive perfect spot to land a trophy in the vast wilderness requires a lot of time and knowledge. Fortunately, writer, angler and conservationist Chris Hunt has traveled to some of the state's most idyllic areas to find the best fishing the Gem State has to offer. Adventurous anglers can follow his directions off the beaten path to enjoy excellent scenery and even better fishing. Brimming with expert tips and seasonal strategies for each location, this handy guide will find its place in a dry pocket for every successful excursion.

This is the first comprehensive look at the taxonomy, life history, and conservation status of the world's trout and char. These are fascinating and beautiful fish that rate high for the angler as well as for tourist and recreational economies. Trout and char also play key roles in the ecology of many lake and river systems around the world. Trout and char are abundant in many regions, but most native species are on the decline. Some are classified as vulnerable, threatened, or endangered. Because of their widespread stocking in regions where they are not native, some trout and char also are the cause for threats to other native species. Loss of habitat, an expanding human population, and rapid climate change are challenging their future as streams warm and waters become more variable in their flows. This book examines trout and char from all these perspectives. Early chapters explore the unique diversity and life history aspects of trout and char and provide information on the taxonomy and systematics while also detailing some of unique life histories. New information is presented about species diversity and distributions by country. Summary chapters explore significant conservation and management challenges of broad interest to scientists, resource managers, anglers, and interested public. Trout and Char of the World end s with a series of essays exploring the future of trout and char over the next 50 years. Trout and Char of the World will be a primary resource for trout and char biologists, conservationists, and anglers in the many countries where trout and char are native or have been introduced, and a resource for anyone interested in learning more about the diversity and distribution of trout and char worldwide.--

In this collection of fishing essays, the author takes readers under the surface of this ancient sport, casting a spell of water-magic. Although trout are central to many of the stories, bluegills, bass, and other warm-water fish also grace these pages. The author writes about fly-tying, collecting fishing literature, journaling, and traveling in a way that makes the book a varied meditation on fishing and the outdoors.

A profile of twenty of Wisconsin's finest streams. The authors share their fishing experiences, offering detailed maps and descriptions of the stream's location and natural setting, and conservation history.

From beer labels to literary classics like A River Runs Through It, trout fishing is a beloved feature of the iconography of the American West. But as Jen Brown demonstrates in Trout Culture: How Fly Fishing Forever Changed the Rocky Mountain West, the popular conception of Rocky Mountain trout fishing as a quintessential experience of communion with nature belies the sport’s long history of environmental manipulation, engineering, and, ultimately, transformation. A fly-fishing enthusiast herself, Brown places the rise of recreational trout fishing in a local and global context. Globally, she shows how the European sport of fly-fishing came to be a defining, tourist-attracting feature of the expanding 19th-century American West. Locally, she traces the way that the burgeoning fly-fishing tourist industry shaped the environmental, economic, and social development of the Western United States: introducing and stocking favored fish species, eradicating the less favored native “trash fish,” changing the courses of waterways, and leading to conflicts with Native Americans’ fishing and territorial rights. Through this analysis, Brown demonstrates that the majestic trout streams often considered a timeless feature of the American West are in fact the product of countless human interventions adding up to a profound manipulation of the Rocky Mountain environment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKMwEkKj9jg

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.

In this touching memoir of his boyhood on a farm in the Ozark foothills, Harry Middleton joins the front rank of nature writers alongside Edward Hoagland and Annie Dillard. It is the year 1965, a year rife with change in the world--and in the life of a boy whose tragic loss of innocence leads him to the healing landscape of the Ozarks. Haunted by indescribable longing, twelve-year-old Harry is turned over to two enigmatic guardians, men as old as the hills they farm and as elusive and beautiful as the trout they fish for--with religious devotion. Seeking strength and purpose from life, Harry learns from his uncle, grandfather, and their eccentric neighbor, Elias Wonder, that the pulse of life beats from within the deep constancy of the earth, and from one's devotion to it. Amidst the rhythm of an ancient cadence, Harry discovers his home: a farm, a mountain stream, and the eye of a trout rising.