Commonsense Fly-Fishing: 7 Tips by Eric Stroup

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rrt

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Just finished this little book this evening. Stroup's major premise is to control drift, and he spends much time with the ways to achieve the proper drift thru approach, etc. Also included are short chapters on dry-fly and nymph fishing. He also includes his favorite flies. The book is well worth the 8 dollars I spent on it, and it would be a nice manual for beginners. To me, it was interesting how much differently from me he likes to fish or to have his clients fish, and maybe that's why it sounds like he/they catch more fish than I do, too. Among other things, I hate to fish with much extra weight; he loves it When we were arguing on another site, he facetiously said that he ought to guide me sometime (implying that I am as lousy a fisherman as I probably am), and I probably should have taken him up on it! I think he got in a bit of a hurry, though: He obviously knows a lot more that he included in this small book, and I think he should have expanded the book to include more of what he knows and probably more anecdotes to illustrate what he knows. But, for the price you can buy it, it is easily well worth the money -- and, it's a fly-fishing book, not something obliquely related to fly-fishing that is being marketed as one. Even we old codgers who've been at it for a long, long time can pick up some tips in this book.
 
I agree with you completely. Great little book. There are some good tips and tricks. I don't think it's really so much for a beginner. Crucial things like drift, presentation, drag, leaders, are well addressed.
 
Eric is a great fisherman. I got married five years ago, and after beefing to my wife about no trip to Montana that year (the wedding expenses were ridiculous) my wife bought me a long weekend trip to fish Spruce Creek in the fall (Harpsters - Not the SRC!). There were three other guys in the cabin and Eric was the guide for three days fishing .

Anyway I got to fish with him a bit for three days. He is a big believer (as I am) that proper presentation is the foundation of successful fly fishing. He's a very accurate caster and uses the current, rocks, etc. to his advantage to get a good drift.

Anyway, I've never read the book, but I can attest that Eric knows his stuff. I found it interesting talking to him about fishing, presentation, fly patterns, hatches, etc., and watching how he approached fishing and particularly the presentation of flies. Like I said, his style and philosophy of fishing is similar to mine and my time with him served more to confirm my thoughts on fishing than learn a lot of new tricks. He did help me a bit with my curve casting and draping my line over rocks to get a better drift.

BTW rrt, I do believe an old dog CAN learn new tricks....lol. If you have a chance to fish with him (for free...lol) you should take him up on it. I can almost guarantee it would be an enjoyable day on the water. I always enjoy a day on the water learning and sharing with fellow FFers.
 
Thanks for the review RRT. I'll check it out.
 
I really liked this book as well. It has helped me catch more fish simply by learning how to control the drift better. I didn't realize how much of a difference it made until actually learning how to do it properly. The biggest thing for me was just learning to set the hook at right time, instead of thinking I was just hitting the bottom or other things. For under $10, I would definetly pick it up if you have the chance.
 
My only complaint is that it is not bigger. I would have gladly paid more for the information that he has tucked away.

Wait, maybe I do have a real complaint. The majority of folks don't tie, yet there is always inevitably a portion of the book dedicated to tying. This book uses 17% of its pages to go over patterns. I have been tying less than a year and I could tie all of them. I don't think there was a need to have photos and tying directions for Walts Worm, Green Weenies and Zebra Midges. If there were original flys in there that Eric developed that would be one thing, but I wish instead he would have covered more flies, the proper utilization, tips for fishing them, etc.

The chapter on line control and rod position were short, sweet and have huge take away value. Very good stuff that may or may not be intuitive to some but an asset to all.
 
I've never seen the book. It sounds good.

BTW, what are the "7 tips?"
 
I've always had a lot of repect for Eric Stroup and his work with Charlie Meck...I know that it is out of the realm of the "readers corner" but if you browse the fly fishing video section of www.riseformstudios.com, Eric has some very informative video for beginners.
 
jdaddy wrote:
Wait, maybe I do have a real complaint. The majority of folks don't tie, yet there is always inevitably a portion of the book dedicated to tying. This book uses 17% of its pages to go over patterns. I have been tying less than a year and I could tie all of them. I don't think there was a need to have photos and tying directions for Walts Worm, Green Weenies and Zebra Midges.

I don't know this book, so I don't comment on it directly, but the above is an important thing to note, regardless.

Its a problem with nearly all FF'ing books, and I imagine one that the publishers/editors insist on. You're right, every book needs to devote a section to tying, and in turn its almost always pointless, superficial, and a waste of ideal space for things that could be more useful.

The first book I bought after my big box combo was the LL Bean Guide, which was comprised of three smaller books bound into one. One of these books was exclusively beginner tying (no complaints on that inclusion, it was supposed to be a complete start manual), but each of the otehr books also included a chaper on basic tying.

Ergo, in no less than three sections, I could learn to tie a wooly bugger...

Publishers need to break from this habit in anything but their most beginner books, the introductionary course as it were. If you're into tying, you'll do it or you won't, and you'll buy books devoted to the subject.
 
I think tying sections are important to stream or region specific books. For general tactics, a brief description of types of patterns is sufficient.
 
.I know that it is out of the realm of the "readers corner" but if you browse the fly fishing video section of www.riseformstudios.com, Eric has some very informative video for beginners.

I am going to recommend we change this sub-forum to "Media Review" or something. Video, books, software, IPHONE apps, etc.
 
That web address is . . .

http://www.riseformstudio.tv/

they changed it.
 
I just read this one. Checked it out from the library, but I'm buying it and taking it with me to the stream to practice.

This is the clearest explanation I've ever found for what I've been doing wrong with my line control and line mending technique- I knew I had problems, but I wasn't sure what they were. Now I know, and I think this book can teach me how to fix them.

I've never even thought about doing something as nerdified as taking a book with me to a stream so I could learn how to fish better from it. But the diagrams and exercises outlined in this book make so much, well, common sense that you shouldn't be surprised to see some guy out on the stream with his nose in a book, trying to figure out exactly how to make his next line mend. I'm convinced this book could make me a better trout stream fisherman.
 
I've never even thought about doing something as nerdified as taking a book with me to a stream

Careful. You will be rolling D&D dice with Gfen!
 
jdaddy wrote:
I've never even thought about doing something as nerdified as taking a book with me to a stream
Careful. You will be rolling D&D dice with Gfen!

That's AD&D, there's differences, and they're important to some of us.
 
jdaddy wrote:
That's AD&D, there's differences, and they're important to some of us.
More proof in that it matters.

gygax2.jpg
 
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