Trout from Small Streams [Hardcover]

Dave Hughes is one of the most versatile, and best, writers in the fly fishing field. When he writes for beginners he explains the basics clearly without insulting the reader's intelligence. When writing about more advanced techniques he does so as someone who's been where you are. This book is one of the latter. If you are an absolute neophyte or if you are the type of person who learns best from photos, charts and diagrams, this book is probably not for you. Inside the jacket there is not a single photo or illustration to be found. But, if you already know the basic casts and knots and you appreciate clear, cogent prose and you wish to fish streams that hardly ever see another angler, there are precious gems to be mined here. The author doesn't make specific recommendations about equipment or techniques for you. Instead, he gives you a glimpse into what has and hasn't worked for him in the hope that you can learn from his experiences. Small streams usually don't yield record size trout, but the challenges of fishing flies on tight, brush lined flows make every fish you capture (and hopefully release) a trophy. When you've determined that you must get "up close and personal" with the trout in all those those no-name streams that most fisherman barely take notice of in their daily travels this book will give you a realistic assessment of the obstacles and rewards you should expect. More important, it introduces you to some methods that should help you to overcome those obstacles, thereby increasing your chances of success.

I really enjoyed this book and found it be informative, but written in a non technical and casual style that makes for easy reading. I do recommend the book to others because it is so well written, however where it fails is in the lack of photographs. Dave Hughes is also a very successful photographer so why not include some photos of the beautiful places he has fished and of the large trout he has taken from some of these streams? Adding some nice colour photos would have made this book a ten out ten for me.

Who doesn't know what is?

The author, Dave Hughes, ruminating as to whether the addition of a new fly that caused him to exceed the capacity of his beloved single small stream box is or isn't beneficial.

Seeing that this is how Trout from Small Streams ends, the reader is left pondering a question that takes on an almost existential significance.

I don't know if that's good or bad.

This time it's me, the reviewer, wondering if this fly fishing business doesn't tend to become just a bit heavier than it ought to or needs to be. Or perhaps I'm just reacting to the devilish complexity of it all...

Anyway, Hughes has written a generally pleasant, if at times overly weighty tome on the particular attractions of smallish fish in modest waters. In a competitive world where, more often than not, size really does matter, there's something refreshingly counterintuitive about this.

While the title, "Trout from Small Streams" suggests that the fish have the center stage, in fact, they are of secondary importance; the book is really an exposition of intricate technique as to how to catch them. At times this can become quite esoteric as in the following discussions of leaders: "Next in importance are spare tippet spools in 3X, 4X, 5X, and 6X, along with a couple of store-bought leaders 7 ½ feet long tapered to 3X. That gives me the options of fishing a stout 3X leader about length of the rod I carry, for size 8 and 10 flies, or, far more often, adding a 2-foot tippet of 4X and fishing a leader just that much longer than the rod I use on small streams, for size 12 and 14 flies".

Sometimes Hughes gets a bit carried away as in this description of experimenting with a simple yarn indicator for nymph fishing, "I merely stripped a few feet of line from the reel, drew it out beyond the rod tip, held the hook while I danced a bit of line into the air above the gravel, like a snake charmer elevates a cobra, then flicked the rod towards the upstream end of the pool and let the fly go at the same time".

If, at this moment, you find yourself with bated breath on the edge of your chair, then you can be sure this book's for you.