reviews

Freshwater Fishing--OR and WA

Reviewed by Scott Richmond

Freshwater Fishing--Oregon and Washington, by Gary Lewis. Published by Gary Lewis Outdoors. 128 color pages in 8.5 x 11 inch format, softbound. $18.95. Available in general fishing stores and from the publisher. Also available online; google the title.

hen I read the first chapter of Freshwater Fishing--Oregon and Washington, I thought: "Well, that's not very deep. The author didn't cover this, and he didn't discuss that, and he could have mentioned something else."

Then I thought about it a little more. The first chapter was about rainbow trout and was ten pages long. In that space, the author discussed the high points of bait, lure, and fly fishing for rainbow trout. How much detail can you have in ten pages, including photographs and a couple of ads? Not much. It's just enough to get someone started.

And that's what this book is about: getting started. It's not an exhaustive encyclopedia of fishing tactics. It's a quick-and-dirty guide to angling for 25 species of Northwest fish. Volumes can be (and have been) written about each one of them.

Lewis discusses each species, telling you a little about the fish and some basic tactics, often with drawings of how to rig up. Most chapters are two to four pages long. It's enough to get your feet wet, not full immersion. If getting you feet wet is what you're after, you'll find this a useful book.

For example, when I started reading this books I knew that I probably wasn't going to learn anything new about rainbow trout in ten pages. That chapter was just frustrating to me. So instead, I read a few chapters about fish I was less familiar with: sturgeon, catfish, smallmouth bass, walleye. When I was done, did I feel like I could go after those fish with a little more confidence? Generally, yes.

Although fly tactics are mentioned where appropriate, this is not a fly fishing book. Westflyers will find it useful if they want to pursue species other than steelhead and trout with gear other than flies. They may also find useful information about bass, shad, and other less traditional fly-rod quarry.

Bottom Line: Suited to a newcomer to the Northwest or to fishing. Reviewer Rating: 3

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 11/11/2003.

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