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    Backpack Fly Fishing: A Back-to-Basics Approach
    Backpack Fly Fishing: A Back-to-Basics Approach
    Backpack Fly Fishing: A Back-to-Basics Approach
    Ebook193 pages2 hours

    Backpack Fly Fishing: A Back-to-Basics Approach

    By Daniel E. Steere

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    About this ebook

    Tips for simplifying fly-fishing trips to fish more often and in more locations.

    Increasingly, the trend in fly fishing has been toward greater specialization (trout vs. bass, freshwater vs. saltwater, lightweight vs. heavier weight rods and reels) and complexity. This trend has taken many anglers away from what they loved best about fly-fishing: catching a wide variety of fish with simple, minimalist equipment that can fit into a daypack. Backpack Fly Fishing helps readers to understand why we need to get back to a simpler approach and how to enjoy doing it.

    In Backpack Fly Fishing, Daniel E. Steere provides a comprehensive philosophy for this back-to-basics approach to fishing. He includes chapters on equipment selection, fish that can be caught using this equipment and how to catch them, how to approach different types of waters, and important flies and how to tie them. Additional chapters address how backpack fly-fishing fits into the context of other outdoor activities such as camping, hiking, and birding.

    Everyone can benefit from Steere’s helpful information, including current flyfishermen who want to try a less complicated, back-to-basics approach; spin and bait fishermen who want to try the sport of fly fishing without breaking the bank on fishing equipment; and hikers, campers, bicyclists, and other outdoors people who want to be able to fish in waters that they may happen upon during their journeys through the wilds.

    Skyhorse Publishing is proud to publish a broad range of books for fishermen. Our books for anglers include titles that focus on fly fishing, bait fishing, fly-casting, spin casting, deep sea fishing, and surf fishing. Our books offer both practical advice on tackle, techniques, knots, and more, as well as lyrical prose on fishing for bass, trout, salmon, crappie, baitfish, catfish, and more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSkyhorse
    Release dateMar 15, 2016
    ISBN9781634507509
    Backpack Fly Fishing: A Back-to-Basics Approach

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      Book preview

      Backpack Fly Fishing - Daniel E. Steere

      Introduction

      Backpack fly fishing is perhaps the most consistently enjoyable form of fishing for a wide range of people. Its appeal is simple: a fly rod, a backpack with some simple equipment, and a desire to explore. Preparation for a fishing trip is minimal, and often an opportunity to fish is a secondary by-product of another fun outdoor activity. And, most importantly, it can be as effective as other strategies in terms of catching a wide range of fun and challenging fish on a fly rod.

      My preference for backpack fly fishing evolved over a number of years. I came to fishing later in life (in my late twenties), so initially everything was new and interesting to me. I started with spin fishing (which I still do), but when my dad brought home a first edition of Zane Grey’s Tales of Freshwater Fishing from our local library sale with its period photographs of Zane and his brothers fishing with those strange long rods with the reels at the very end, I was immediately drawn to the idea of fly fishing. I talked about it incessantly, enough so that my wife Kathy bought me my first fly rod in February in anticipation of my April birthday. (I guess she just didn’t want to hear me talk about it anymore. . . .) And so began my love affair with fly fishing and fly rods. With my friend Tom Oliver’s guidance, I started on bluegills, with one memorable crappie on my second outing. At that point I owned one fly rod and one box of flies, carried in an old Pendleton flannel shirt. My dad gave me my first fly-tying kit, and I learned to tie my own flies through discovery and by following Dick Stewart’s Universal Fly Tying Guide. From there, I ventured into trout fishing. My fly rods accumulated, as did the fly boxes filled with flies in my vest. Then, I discovered bass fly fishing after reading Dave Whitlock’s groundbreaking book on the subject and Dick Stewart’s bass fly-tying book. I added specialized heavier fly rods to my collection, and I continued to fly fish and tie flies.

      But, as with many hobbies, I discovered that more is not necessarily better. I missed the early days of my first fly rod and my first fly box. I came to realize that my favorite places to fish were out of the way streams and ponds that you hike into and where nature, and not other flyfishers, surrounds you. And I also came to realize that I was happiest when hiking, camping, bird-watching, and fishing with other people, particularly my family.

      A woodland stream along a hiking trail.

      So, I started to focus on the minimal essential equipment that could fit into my backpack. I started leaving the waders and vest at home. When going someplace, I would simply grab my backpack and take it with me. Often, I would not even open it for fishing, but many times I would, and I caught fish in the way that I like best.

      This book was written to introduce you to this fun, relaxing, and effective approach to fly fishing. You will benefit from reading this book if you are . . .

      •   a flyfisher who wants to try a simpler, less encumbered, more relaxed approach to the sport;

      •   an outdoors person who likes to hike, camp, bird-watch, and so forth, and who would like to start fly fishing in order to extend your appreciation of the outdoors;

      •   someone who mostly spin fishes with lures or bait and who would like to fly fish also but without the commitment to full and expensive fly-fishing gear;

      •   a serious hiker who would like to be prepared to fish when you encounter secluded or seductive waters that you may never pass again in your travels.

      If any of these describe you, then I am confident that you will learn and benefit from reading the strategies and tactics described in this book. Mostly, you’ll have some fun!

      Chapter One

      Simplifly!

      The Rationale for Backpack Fly Fishing

      Picture yourself:

      You’re hiking through the woods with friends or family, maybe doing some bird-watching or tree or wildflower identification. It’s a beautiful day, and you stop occasionally to drink some water, eat some trail mix, and enjoy the peace of the deep woods. As you continue on your hike, you first hear and then come across a small stream with miniature plunge pools and long riffles. You’re not sure if it has a name, but you do suspect that it could hold some fish. You quickly assemble your backpack fly rod, tie on a small caddis imitation (say, a size 18 Henryville Special), and make a short cast into the largest pool. A wild, 6-inch brook trout rises to your fly. . . .

      You’re staying at a bed-and-breakfast for a three-day getaway for you and your significant other. There is a rack of brochures of nearby attractions in the front hall of the inn, and you pick up one about a local state park. As you read the brochure and study the map of the park, you see that a small pond can be accessed by a trail, and the brochure informs you that the lakes and ponds of the park hold warmwater fish such as bass, bluegills, and crappies. You get up early the next day, make the bumpy drive to the trailhead, and hike a mile and a half with your backpack and fly rod. Mist is rising off of the pond when you get there, and you hear occasional splashes of fish hitting insects or amphibians off the surface. You see a beaver lodge at the far end of the pond, and you see a bass leap clear of the water and turn a complete cartwheel while chasing a dragonfly. You rig up on your rod with a cork popper and make several casts to open areas next to thick stands of lily pads, making sure to retrieve the popper slowly as its legs twitch seductively. On your seventh cast, a fish takes your popper and, with a deep bend in your rod, you fight it as it tries to head into the weeds. At first you think it’s a bass, but then the sideways fighting style of the fish lets you know that it is a bluegill, and a big one at that, perhaps the biggest you have ever caught. . . .

      McIntosh Brook, Nova Scotia.

      A bluegill feeds on the surface of a small pond.

      You’re vacationing in Yellowstone National Park and you want to fish for trout. You’ve planned a number of hikes into both the better-known and lesser-known streams. In the morning, you take a mile-long hike with your backpack down to the Yellowstone River, but it is high and roily here and you know that if you cast into the powerful current your fly will just be swept away. However, you notice a small, swirling eddy about two feet across right by the shore, caused by a large rock at the edge of the river and, as you stare into the water, you think you see flashes of white. You tie on a dark spruce streamer and flip it into the swirling eddy (no cast necessary). You feel a sudden jolt and hook into a hard fighting 14-inch cutthroat. . . .

      You slowly meander along the accessible bank of a lake in a state park near your home. There is wildlife to be seen here: osprey and bald eagles fishing over the lake, bullfrogs croaking, water snakes, turtles, and so many birds. And there are fish, and you never know what will go for your fly. If you are lucky, you might catch a largemouth bass, black crappie, pickerel, and sunfish, all on the same fly. And every cast brings adventure and mystery. . . .

      Although these situations vary in a number of ways (close to home vs. vacationing, focus on general outdoor activities vs. a singular focus on fishing, or coldwater vs. warmwater fishing), they all involve fly fishing using only equipment that fits into a medium-sized daypack. Backpack fly fishing offers a minimalist, simplified, back-to-basics approach to the sport that is flexible and adaptable to multiple situations. For me, this approach evolved in part from the realities of traveling on vacations with my family with limited car space. However, it also emerged from the desire to simplify fly fishing and to get back to what I first loved about it, unencumbered by all of the equipment that I had come to feel was always necessary.

      Traveling light: a backpack and a fly rod.

      Why Backpack Fly Fishing?

      Let’s be clear before we go any further: I am not advocating the approach described here as the only approach to fishing. Certainly, there are times when I want to fly fish with my full vest and chest waders, or spin fish for bass with rubber worms. But backpack fly fishing is a unique and enjoyable alternative, and I have found that I like having this option to turn to. In fact, I find myself turning to backpack fly fishing more and more.

      There are a number of compelling reasons for using this approach:

      1.   Simplicity and Getting Back to Basics: When I started fly fishing in my late twenties, I used the fiberglass 7-weight fly rod that Kathy had given me as a surprise gift and a handful of store-bought flies in a clear plastic box. Half a lifetime later, I own eight fly rods (five of which I built), a vest loaded with different fly boxes and other equipment, and three pairs of waders, not to mention a full arsenal of fly-tying equipment. I have enjoyed all of this equipment over the years, but often I want to get back to the feeling of that first fly rod and fly box. Backpack fly fishing is a perfect way to get back to that sense of simplicity, when you choose to do so. (Incidentally, I caught a surprising variety of fish, including several personal best records, on that first fly rod and a handful of flies). For me, backpack fly fishing helps me get back to the allure of a fly rod and reel and the wonder of seeing or feeling fish take a beautifully tied fly.

      2.   Versatility of Fly Fishing: Some people associate fly fishing primarily with coldwater species such as trout or salmon. Fly fishing, however, is an extremely versatile approach to catching fish. I am not a particularly gifted or skilled fisherman (as my friend Tom will attest), but, using a fly rod, I have

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