Product Description

Amateur or expert, every angler dreams of landing "the big one," but that's only part of the appeal of fly fishing. Because even when hours pass without a bite, nothing beats the rugged beauty of the surroundings. For both armchair travelers and avid outdoorsmen who may have already started a checklist of their own, Fifty Places to Fly Fish Before You Die maps out the meccas of the fly-fishing world.

Through in-depth interviews with the sport's acknowledged gurus, author Chris Santella goes beyond standard guides to convey the very essence of the recommended locations. Readers can vicariously cast mouse pattners to fifty-pound taimen in the wilds of Mongolia, wrangle with wily permit off the Florida Keys, and match the hatch on Montana's Armstrong's Spring Creek. Jardines de la Reina, Cuba (tarpon), the Zhupanova River, Kamchatka (rainbow trout), and the Rio Negro, Brazil (peacock bass) are also included. The essays include a cultural and natural history of each site, along with colorful anecdotes based on the author's and authorities' experiences.

With breath-takingly-beautiful photos of the spots, many by celebrated fly-fishing photographer R. Valentine Atkinson, the book also provides adventurous anglers with enough travel-and-tackle information so that they, too, can start planning excursions to go fish around the globe.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #44051 in Books
• Published on: 2004-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Santella, a freelance writer for the New York Times, the New Yorker and Fly Rod & Reel magazine, offers 50 short takes on the ultimate fly-fishing destinations in this beautifully photographed and nicely packaged volume. Each locale comes recommended by an avid fisher; for example, the founder of Frontiers Travel, Mike Fitzgerald, and his son, also named Mike Fitzgerald, suggest fishing for Atlantic salmon at Laxa I Adaldal in Iceland. Fly-fishing instructor Cathy Beck leads Santella to the thrill of catching snook off Boca Paila in the Yucatan. And Sweetwater Travel founder Jeff Vermillion describes the excitement of fishing on the Ponoi River in Mongolia for taimen ("the world’s largest almonid, capable of reaching 70-plus inches in length and more than 100 pounds"). In Europe, Simon Gawesworth tells Santella about the trick to fishing brown trout on the River Test in Stockbridge, England, where wading is forbidden. The book also highlights more traditional (though no less exciting) trout fishing destinations, such as the Bighorn River in Montana and the Green River in Utah. With its elegant descriptions, gorgeous photos and practical information on accommodations and equipment, this book is a dream travel guide for avid fly-fishers.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
"Santella offers 50 short takes on the ultimate fly-fishing destinations in this beautifully photographed and nicely packaged volume...With its elegant descriptions, gorgeous photos and practical information, this book is a dream travel guide for avid fly-fishers."-Publishers Weekly
"A lavishly photographed dreambook of the world's top angling spots."-Men's Journal
"Everything dad needs to tackle his next trip."-Fort Worth Star-Telegram

About the Author
CHRIS SANTELLA regularly plies his local rivers in Portland, Oregon, where he lives with his wife and daughter. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the New Yorker, Travel & Leisure, and Fly Rod & Reel, among other publications. This is his first book.

Customer Reviews

Very informative and introductory
It was a very good quality book, very informative. It is NOT a full informative planing trip gide, but rather a good place to start planing your own trips.

Where's the Beef, Er Trout?

This is a beautiful book, one that is smartly designed and packaged, pleasant to leaf through and to handle, but somewhat lacking in substance.

Here's an example of the kind of lapse that would have been caught had the book been written for hard core fisherpeople. We read, "The South Island of New Zealand is awash with beauty and teeming with trout". And then a few sentences later, "The South Island trouting experience is certainly one of quality rather than quantity. A majority of the rivers simply don't support large numbers of fish. Some of the most fishy-looking water you can imagine may not contain a single fish".

So is the South Island "teeming with trout" or is it not?

Ultimately it doesn't really matter. This isn't a book about information - it's a wonderful collection of vicarious fishing trips. I'd never flicked a fly rod when I got it, yet I was engrossed, transported, and in the end captivated.

The settings range from intimate, "Brown Trout on Letort Spring Run", to grand, "Steelhead on the Dean River". Along the way we encounter tarpon, bonefish, snook, pike, redfish, all manner of salmon and trout, and even something known as a giant trevally that lurks in the waters off Christmas Island.

And the photographs are stunning. I only wish there were one for every destination.

Recommended to wile away a winter's afternoon while waiting for the ice to break.

Fifty Places to Fly Fish Before You Die
A wonderful book for the fly fishing enthusiast. A keepsake for all fishermen. A must have for the coffe table!