reviews

Flyfishing Alaska

Reviewed by Terry W. Sheely

Flyfishing Alaska, by Anthony J. Route. Published by Johnson Books. 230 pages in a 6 by 9 inch softbound, black-and-white format. $17.95 retail. Available in some fly shops and online (google the title and author).

an you say Iliamna pinkie, bumble puppy, and egg-sucking leech without cracking a smile? Are you confident that Everglow flies aren't found directly below the belt buckle on Hanford' nuclear workers? If so, then this is your book.

Author Anthony Route lives in Anchorage. He's a trained aquatic entomologist, a fly-fishing columnist for the Anchorage Daily News, and he takes fly-fishing seriously.

And he knows what makes it tick--at least in Alaska.

First-published in 1989 and revised in 1995, Flyfishing Alaska begins with a sweeping overview, then necks down to 13 chapters each devoted to fly-fishing for a specific species.

Most fishing guide books name a water and describe the fish found there. Route's book names the fish and describes the type of water where it can be found. If you learn to fish for rainbows with Egg-Sucking Leeches behind spawning salmon in the shallow tailout of River X, you'll be able to fish them just as well when you find those conditions in River Y.

Using a mix of personal experiences, fishing guide insights, and on-the-water stories, Route guides us through the seasonal dos, don'ts and whyfors of fly-fishing for kings, coho, sockeye, pinks, chums, rainbow, steelhead, cutthroat, Dolly Varden, lake trout, grayling, northern pike, and sheefish.

Route's recommendations should cut years off the learning curve of anyone heading into Alaska's freshwater fish maze armed with a flyrod. A pleasant surprise is the amount and obvious value of cross-over information spanning the gear-gap between fly and conventional casters. Gear casters who read the book with an open mind will find productive ways to make Route's advise to fly fishers applicable to conventional tackle.

The writing is, at times, labored and sentence construction--while correct--lacks the punch that makes for easy reading. The information, however, is sound, and worth the effort. One reviewer described Flyfishing Alaska as "the most intelligent and rewarding work I've seen on Alaska." The reviewer didn't say how many other works he'd actually seen.

I like the information here, the detail with which it is presented, and the effort that it took to collect it. Being exposed to this much local insight has the advantage of leaving the reader with the impression that they can fish with confidence--and that's most of the fight.

Bottom Line: Could cut year's off your learning curve if you're going to fish in Alaska. Reviewer Rating: 3

Terry W. Sheely is a widely published outdoor writer from the Seattle area. He is the author of Washington State Fishing Guide, which is available in many Northwest fly shops and from amazon.com and other online sources.

Uploaded 10/05/2000.

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