Favorite Guidebook to PA flyfishing

Padraic

Padraic

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Who's guidebook of Pennsylvania streams do you like best?
 
Pad,

I voted for the Landis book. I also have Meck's, Wolf's, and the Gazetteer. Although the Gazetteer doesn’t really point out ANY streams, it contains EVERY stream in the State. It always goes along with any FF book to find the streams and rivers written about in the guide book.
 
I use all the books mentioned.

Although, the regulations have changed on many of the waters so some of the books info is way outdated.
 
Yeah, the authors must all be clapping their hands together, and pulling up their old word processing files... "New Editions! I'm gonna get that new Sage afterall!" (or maybe put the jallopy in the garage for an overhaul...) :)
 
Aside from the PBC publications and the delorme, the only one I have is Meck's book. I bought a heavy copy from a productive looking bookstore.
 
I voted for my most used: Delorme Gazeteer. Of the remainder, I found Meck's most helpful, Landis' more helpful for lesser known streams, the TU limestoner almost worthless for southwest PA, the PFBC site indispensable, and the rest I'm unfamiliar with.
 
Dwight Landis's Guide, Most usefull I have found combined with Delorme Gazeteer,
 
While I voted for Landis's book I think Wolf's is a not to distant second.
 
I hated Dave Wolf's guide. Seems every description of every stream had some spin on,"the average fisherman can expect to catch 3 or 4
trout here... I caught 2 dozen." So what?

On the other hand, I do like the way the book is organized. It makes it easy to plan a trip. The sections are broken down by "town"-area with the good streams described in relation to it. So you can plan to stay fish say... Spring Creek, see that State College is a good place to stay and then have a few alternate places to fish if Spring doesn't work out for you.
 
Actually, they all have inaccuracies and can certainly lead you astray, at least regarding the streams with which I am familiar. But, you missed the most enjoyable one to read: the late Mike Sajna's guidebook to Pennsylvania's trout and salmon streams. Besides the typical stream info, Sajna included interesting historical anecdotes about events around a lot of the streams. It is probably out of print now, but you computer savvy guys can likely find it somewhere on the Internet.
 
I don't think the Landis book is equaled for the wealth of information you can actually use. It is, IMO, by far the best of the listed choices as a functional, utilitarian guide to PA trout streams.

I agree with Rich that the Sajna book was unique and entertaining, but as a functional guide, it was a little weak, IMO. But its certainly worth owning. Even after all these years, its hard to say anything even mildly critical of Mike's work. He was such a genuinely great guy.

I have a soft spot for Joe Armstrong's book on the limestones because it was actually (or initially) a project to benefit PATU. I think its a neat book if you right size your expectations going in. It has a lot of Joe in it and that's a good thing, IMO.

I haven't had the opportunity to become familiar with the Wolf book. IIRC, its one of a series published by the Falcon Press. There are at least 20 state-level books, of varying quality in the series. I've found the ones for Washington, Wisconsin and Michigan to be pretty helpful to me. And I agree with Pad that the Hub Cities/If You Go pages that divide the geographic sections of the books are a useful thing. All the books in the series are set up this way.

Charlie's book is pretty good, even if the prose is a little painful from time to time. I actually think Charlie's first book, "Meeting and Fishing the Hatches" is his best effort and most worthwhile book.

JMO/YMMV
 
Landis comes closest to answering the kinds of questions that I ask about trout streams: relative numbers of wild vs. stocked trout, thermal issues, canopy, streambed character, posting issues.

I believe he also has more streams than the others. If he ever releases a new edition, I will get it, as well.

Meck is a nice guy, but his style is repetitive. His pattern index in the back is unique and useful from time to time.

Wolf is only of significance because of the inclusion of warm water areas. A few of those are interesting since I had never thought about trying them.

I have never seen the Hayes guide.

The Sajna is unique for its historical narratives. I enjoy those.

Would not want to be without the Gazetteer. Along those lines, I would be interested to hear how useful/not useful vehicle GPS systems are for getting to streams. I don't have one in my buggy.
 
I've always liked Charlie Meck's guide books because they pretty much concentrate on hatch information - and dry fly fishing - for each stream. I also have Mike Sajna's book, and though it is enjoyable reading, I don't really consider it a guide book.
I have to admit that I've never read the Landis and Wolf books.
The one book I always have with me on fishing trips though, is the DeLorme Atlas
 
The Jim Hayes book, "100 Pennsylvania Trout Streams and How to Fish Them" went out of print a long time ago, probably around the mid-60s.

It is still possible to find copies, though. I bought a copy just a few years ago on Amazon, and it wasn't that expensive. It's a compilation of different writers who write about streams in different regions. There's a section by George Harvey about Bald Eagle Creek for example.

It's not very long, just 50 pages. But it's a pretty interesting book for historical reasons.
 
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