With wry humor and rare insight, The Habit of Rivers tells the story of Leeson's passion for rivers, trout, and fly fishing, and his experiences as a newcomer to the Pacific Northwest - "the land of unceasing seasons." Leeson looks beneath the surface of fly fishing to explore questions that engage most fishermen: What is the strange gravity of a trout stream? Why are we so irresistibly drawn to rivers? Why does fly fishing seem such an aptly suited response? Above all, The Habit of Rivers is a book about ways of seeing the wonderfully textured world that emanates from a river. In pursuing these paths, Leeson finds everything from salmon, steelhead, and trout, to drift boats, art, insects, gravity, death, philosophy, books, fly tying, and microbreweries - and links them together with an intelligence that is provocative, witty, and illuminating. The Habit of Rivers begins with a deep respect for trout and trout streams, and ends in wisdom earned by hard and faithful attention to the natural world.

More than 80% of all fishermen spend a majority of their time searching for bass in shallow waters. Larry Larsen's Shallow Water Bass is a book designed to inform anglers at all skill levels on how to more consistently locate and catch largemouth bass from water depths less than 10 feet Fishermen that base their techniques and analytical considerations on the unique concepts presented within will catch more and bigger bass. This book provides anglers with a way to "shortcut" years of experience. It offers a new, effective system to quicker understanding and developing patterns. It's an informative fishing experience.

• New and specific presentation techniques beyond traditional dead drifting
• Long-line nymphing, no-line nymphing, downstream strategies, micronymphing, nymphing lakes, and designing your own imitations
• Instruction on hauling with weighted rigs, hammering, jabbing, tilting the rod plane, roll casting, elliptical casts, curve casts, downstream loading

No other form of fly fishing has broader application on so many types of water for both active and inactive trout. So argues Osthoff, who challenges the long-held notion that nymphing involves little more than dead drifting with the current. Osthoff advocates an active strategy of moving the nymph, applying effective casting and creative presentation techniques that will attract the most elusive trout. With comprehensive advice on rigging and prospecting, practice tips for a wide variety of casts, and strategies for precise control to bring your nymph to life, this is your guide to becoming a truly versatile angler.

Told through the eyes of a longtime Montana fishing guide and itinerant fishing bum, A Good Life Wasted offers a unique perspective on an implausible period in the recent history of human civilization. When Dave Ames started guiding, Rocky Mountain locals rode horses and dug camas roots; now they're trading stock options on cell phones. The collision of stone and computer ages was short-lived, but the deep-rooted themes of this book remain.
A Good Life Wasted - a chronicle and celebration of the fishing-guide life - is poignant and spiritual; it's Blackfoot Indians and copper miners' daughters; it's fiddles and guitars and the fabric of space; it's about what happens to wild people when the wilderness is gone.
From the first chapter - in which Dave Ames recalls bluffing his way into a job as a fishing guide to the rich and famous (after barely managing to suppress the overwhelming urge to go postal at the federal agency where he suffered his first, and only, "real" job in a cubicle farm) - we're hooked. We gladly follow Ames as he describes the rite of tasting clouds of mating midges to better match the hatch, tells the story of a fabled Blackfoot fishing guide, and shares his further adventures as a guy with no job, no office, and no stress. A Good Life Wasted spins a fascinating, compelling web - a web that entices the deskbound salary slave to make a break for it, and head west to big sky and fast, cold water, ASAP.

Larry Larsen s Better Bass Angling is a book for all anglers Beginners and veterans alike will quickly achieve more success if their fishing is based on the concepts represented. The most important key to catching bass is finding them in th feeding mood. Knowing the predominant forage and its location in a body of water will enable an angler to catch more and larger bass. Whether you are an artificial lure caster or live bait angler, you will benefit from this book. Understanding the reasons behind lure or bait success will aid you in establishing highly productive, bass-catching patterns

Larry Larsen's enjoyment of bass fishing has translated into writing about bass for 17 years. Throughout Better Bass Angling, the aspects of finding and catching bass are presented in an entertaining and informative style which has enlightened readers. This wealth of useful information should appeal to experienced and amateur anglers alike who want to learn more about their favorite fresh water sportfish.

A fascinating journey into the extraordinary world of the king of fish: the salmon. This beautiful book explores the natural history of this most mysterious of fishes. Michael Wigan explores the life cycle of the salmon, weaving his own experiences and stories of salmon fishing and spotting into an evocative narrative. Crucially, he addresses the pressing matter of conservation issues and human management, which in the past has led to fast decreasing populations. History suggests it is the pressure of human development which has narrowed down the survival zone of the salmon, and the author questions whether we can go on altering natural systems and freshwater rivers in order to make space for human populations, and do so in sync with fish needs. In his unique and passionate voice, the author transports us to another world - his writing is beautifully evocative and his excitement for the salmon palpable throughout.

A fictional Maine guide who won many friends and admirers through the pages of Field & Stream magazine in the 1920s and '30s, Dud Dean is very much a product of his creator. Arthur Macdougall was an avid outdoorsman and a minister in Bingham, Maine, a tiny town perched on the reaches of the mighty Kennebec River. The tales in this book were compiled by Macdougall's son, Walter.

Matthew Dickerson takes his readers from an Applachian trout stream in western North Carolina where wild trout are reduced to sipping cigarette butts, up through his home state of Vermont where development and the ski industry threaten the state's iconic pastoral riversides, and finally into western Maine to a once dead river that has returned to life. The tale takes us not only to the three eponymous rivers, but to other nearby streams and waters. Though neither an historical nor as scientific text, the writing is informed by both, and as readers are drawn through the tale, they will grow in their own understanding of both stream ecology and the history of human habitation and consumption. The book is illustrated by original prints from Vermont artist Courtney Allenson.

-- Is there a cure for snook fever?
-- Steer through twisted mangrove channels, dodge "noggin-knockers" and oyster bars on outgoing tide
-- Join author Max Hunn as he brawls with tarpon and tangles with snook and redfish, mostly in the Ten Thousand Islands country.

New Zealand is one of the"hot" fly-fishing spots in the world today. Known for brilliant, crystal clear rivers, Zane Grey's New Zealand conjures up images of huge and mythic trout. In Tales of the Angler's Eldorado, Grey fishes both these now legendary streams as well as pursues the monster swordfish off the coast of the New Zealand shores. It's an adventure story and a fishing story at once.

From small creeks to the expansive Jackson River, Beau Beasley shows you where to fly fish in Virginia. Detailed maps, photographs, and Beasley's wisdom guide you through the many waters in the Old Dominion. Use this book to plan your next trip and then take it along with you!

From Mexico to Canada, California to Maine, more people fish for bass than for all other species of game fish combined. And no one knows bass like Homer Circle. For more than fifty years, Uncle Homer, as he's widely and affectionately known, has been obsessed with these enigmatic fish. Topics include fishing the deadliest dozen lures, seasonal tactics, fly rodding for bass, successful trolling, fishing secrets of the pros, and what sounds and colors trigger bass strikes. Plus, you get Homer Circle's personal look back at over fifty years of fishing for bass across the continent. Bass Wisdom is for bass anglers everywhere - novices and pros - and it is sure to improve your skill. (6 X 9, 240 pages, b&w photos, illustrations, diagrams)

Originally published in 1912, this attractive book includes 17 prominent authors who offer their knowledge of every aspect of fly fishing.

The Orvis Guide to Reading Trout Streams is a complete guide to where trout live and feed in a stream. By learning to predict where trout will be, fishermen can cast effectively and wade confidently without spooking trout into cover. Perceptive and practical chapters include "A Trout's World," "Currents and Rocks," "Pools," and "Riffles, Runs, and Bends." Also included are sections on seasonal and daily changes, various approaches, and the differences among species of trout and between big and little rivers. Graced with dozens of helpful schematic drawings by Jim Sulham and more than seventy-five revealing photographs, this book will give all trout fishermen a more coherent understanding of the waters they fish. (81/2 X 11, 176 pages, b&w photos, diagrams)

Completely Revised and Updated. This popular guidebook is now better than ever with updated information on 16 Montana river fisheries and more than 100 lake fisheries. Readers benefit from the combined knowledge of more than 60 contributors! Descriptions of these waters give a complete overview plus specific tips on what flies and lures to use and which techniques work best.

Expert angler Gene Kugach offers hundreds of tips and techniques for catching all types of freshwater fish based on his years of onstream experience. Filled with easy-to-understand illustrations, and geared for both the novice and the more experienced angler, "Freshwater Fishing Tips and Techniques" covers every aspect of freshwater fishing. 300 drawings.

For hundreds of years, fishing communities along the Dorset coast lived from the shoals of mackerel that migrate between May and October. Fishing the traditional way, with seine nets in shallow waters, tightly knit crews used wooden lerret boats to pull bumper catches ashore. Bound by this communal, seasonal wait and scramble for fish, their friendships and rivalries, identity and language, were shaped by the sea. The stories, photographs and recordings collected here give us a vivid picture of a way of life that has largely disappeared. We hear of family gatherings on the beach, and of men and women who lived for the fishing and whose intimate local knowledge, gleaned over a lifetime and passed down over the generations, were essential to their livelihoods. These voices echo through time to tell us about people who were completely connected to place and who lived by 'the ways of beach'.

With over 500 color photographs, this thorough text introduces the reader to the wide variety of decoys currently available, decoys made earlier in the century by "old time" artists as well as examples of contemporary design. The construction and special attributes of fishing decoys are discussed in detail, information vital to recognising the most collectible decoys. Detailed histories of early twentieth century and contemporary decoy makers of Minnesota and their decoys has been compiled through personal interviews with the makers or their families. Information is also provided on spear makers and the varying designs of their spears, jigging sticks, and decoy boxes. This is a truly valuable reference work.

Fundamentals for the beginning fly fisher including tips on rod and reel selection, tackle and tying techniques, basic and advanced casting methods, and more.

Neither rain, sleet, snow, dark of night, 100-degree heat, nor -10 wind chill will prevent John Phillips from crappie fishing. The author has caught crappie through the ice in Minnesota, in the sizzling sun of Florida and in many of the states in between. Phillips has fished with most of the nation's best crappie anglers to learn their secret strategies for catching crappie year-round under every type of weather and water condition. Those techniques and experiences are detailed in this book for the enjoyment and success of enthusiastic crappie anglers. Learn how to: *Make crappie start biting again *Find crappie when a cold front hits *Select the proper jig color *Catch open-water crappie *Use spider-webbing techniques *Locate crappie with depthfinders *Fish hot weather and through ice