reviews

Fly Fishing the Sierra Nevada

Reviewed by Scott Richmond

Fly Fishing the Sierra Nevada, by Bill Sunderlund. 120 pages in an 8.5 by 11 inch format. All color. Maps and many color photographs. $24.95 from Aguabonita Books. Available in some California fly shops and online (google the title).

he trickiest part of creating a guide book is deciding what to leave out. You can't say everything about everywhere. So I like it when a writer tells you his prejudices up front. It lets you know what's been left out and why. In Fly Fishing the Sierra Nevada, Bill Sunderlund gets right to it in the opening paragraphs: he prefers moving water to lakes, and he admits to being a wild trout fan.

Fortunately, the Sierra Nevada offers plenty of moving water, and a generous quantity of wild trout. Sunderlund can mine a rich vein of possibilties.

His book has chapters on the Sierra's major fishing areas:

1. Feather River Country
2. Yuba River
3. Lake Tahoe Area
4. American River
5. Highway 4
6. Highway 108
7. Yosemite Park
8. San Joaquin River
9. Kings and Kaweah Rivers
10. Golden Trout
11. Carson River
12. Bridgeport
13. Owens River

Each chapter describes several fisheries. For example, the Highway 108 chapter discusses over six different streams and lakes, including the various Stanislaus forks and the Tuolumne and Clavey rivers.

Obviously, this book goes for breadth instead of depth. However, Sunderlund seems to do a good job of picking out the right details. His writing is clear and direct. He tells you how to get to each body of water, what kind of fishing you'll find, some of the main access points, and a few fishing tips. The maps are general: each chapter has a page showing the main roads and where the lakes and rivers are. There are not maps of each body of water.

If there was one thing I'd like more of (other than a map of each fishing venue) it's more detail on hatches and their timing. If you're looking for a month-by-month hatch chart for the Truckee River with recommendations for fly patterns, you won't find it here.

Above all this is a beautiful book. I'm a sucker for beautiful books, and this is one of the best-looking guide books I've ever seen. Layout, typography, and photography are well-conceived and executed. Many of my favorite the photos are by Paolo Marchesi, a photographer whose work I hope to see much more of.

Bottom Line: Gets you oriented to the best fly fishing in the Sierra Nevada. Reviewer Rating: 4

Scott Richmond is Westfly's creator and Executive Director. He is the author of eight books on Oregon fly fishing, including Fishing Oregon's Deschutes River (second edition).

Uploaded 09/11/2000.

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