Trout Maverick, Leonard Wright.

gfen

gfen

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Somehow, searching on the interwebs for something brought me to this book's posting in Google Books.

So, I proceded to sit down and read some of it, and I really enjoyed what I got, so I bought a used copy from Amazon for pennies.

I figured, as I've worked my way through easily a third of it, I'd just go ahead and post my thoughts in a sort of minireview: This is a really enjoyable book.

What I like is that it comes at you, in a way, as less of a teaching aid and seems to float things to you in a more conversational tone, sort of someone sharing their thoughts and peppering in some wisdom along the way.

An easy, friendly tone reminds me of Giergach's Trout Bum stories but with some really great insights on how Wright fished, and why he chose what he did, rather than simply a collection of fishing stories. Each chapter deals solely with a new experience, wether it be the ascension of the caddis fly to respected hatch, the use of long rods in the past instead of the craze to shorter rods and even the classic approach and design of the bucktail streamer.

One of the appealing aspects of the book is also one of its biggest downfalls, and that's the outdated time frame in whcih many of the chapters were written. While its noted in the text in several places for the time frame, it can become somewhat frustrating or confusing when he, for instance, gives great detail on the lack of quality hackle and how to obtain it. As I said, both a good and a bad point. It makes me apprechiate how easy it is to find genetic hackle in today's age and the struggle of the '60s and '70s fly angler, but then it can be a bit confusing to read this when quality stuff is simply 30-40 minutes away in a good fly shop, and for a bargin price.

So, in summation, as a much more casual and new angler than many here, Ive taken a real shine to this book. Some people may be familar with him over the years, but I've never heard his name mentioned in any thread on this matter before. One of the points he strives to make is that chances are, someone's done it better and before you (or whomever), and I think this what we should think about. With the availability of these books for only a couple dollars on the used INternet market, its a shame to let a man's accumulated angling wisdom languish in the dust bin of history.

I, for one, recommend this book for someone who finds dry, academic style reading to be boring, but still seeks to learn.

Edited to add:
Trout Maverick by Leonard Wright on Google Books
 
I own one of his books. He is a big advocate of creating movement with flies. He wrote about "the sudden inch", which is moving a dry fly just as it reaches the trout's window of sight. It works!

Thanks for the e-book Gfen.
 
Its not a complete book, but so few things on Google Books are, at least when you deal with modern stuff.

It was enough to really get me interested in buying this, and I'm pretty sure I'll look nto some of his other collections.

I'm looking forward to trying out his caddis fishing tips since my local stream has a great caddis population, but I don't think I've ever taken a fish on a caddis dry.
 
I own several of Wright's books including:
"Trout Maverick"
"Fishing the Dry Fly as a Living Insect"
"Neversink"
"Fly-Fishing Heresies"
"The Ways of Trout"
and several collections of fishing articles and stories which he edited.

In my view he is a fine author who writes engaging fly fishing books. I highly recommend him, but note that he is not generally listed as a member of the pantheon of great American Fly-fishing writers. A pity, because he belongs there.

He never simply repeats the received wisdom of fly-fishing, but bases his theories on personal, practical experience. I suppose "Neversink" is my favorite for I am fascinated by the geomorphological and hydrological aspects of trout streams. He covers this ground in terms a layman can understand and really enjoy.
 
I concur with Tups that Wright is underrated. His "Dry Fly as a Living Insect" is excellent, and I still rate a tan version of his Fluttering Caddis as my favorite dry fly with which to fish the water. His observations about water temperature in "The Ways of Trout" are right on when dry-fly fishing in the absence of hatches. I have found that these observations are not quite so important when nymphing. At any rate, Wright is certainly worth your time, and I recommend his stuff highly. He was quite the iconoclast!
 
His book "Fishing the Dry Fly as a Living Insect" was a great inspiration to me , a huge turning point in my fly fishing life. After reading that book it was never the same , and , "The sudden Inch" and "A skid that's under control" are phrases burned into my memory. I also enjoyed his explaining how ground cow lung , "lights" could be used to supplementally feed wild fish , browns , in his case , and they float. Great Book and i'll have to read some more of his now , THANKS FOLKS.
 
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