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The Orvis Ultimate Book of Fly Fishing Review – Best Beginners Resource
TITLE: The Orvis Ultimate Book of Fly Fishing Secrets from the Orvis Experts
AUTHOR NAME: Orvis team (Edited by Tom Rosenbauer)
SCORE: 4.5 out of 5
INTRODUCTION: The Orvis Ultimate Book of Fly Fishing is a comprehensive guide to all aspects of fly fishing.
It provides easy-to-follow advice of things such as knot tying, cast performing, habitat, watercraft.
It also covers trout feeding and techniques on fly fishing for other species (like steelhead, largemouth bass, bluefish, stripped bass, permit, bonefish and more) both in freshwater and salt.
AUDIENCE/WHO IS IT FOR? Although targeted at newbies just learning the craft of fly fishing, every angler will find something useful in this book.
The information on different locations and species will make a great addition to any library.
The book assumes that the beginner has already purchased a fly rod, reel and fly line and starts with casting techniques.
AUTHOR CREDENTIALS:
Although written by a group of fishermen with limited writing backgrounds, they do possess keen fly fishing instincts and a love for instructing and sharing tips and advice.
Contributors:
Tom Rosenbauer: Author of other Orvis publications as well as being the vice president of marketing at Orvis in Manchester, Vermont.
Lou Tabory: Modern day saltwater fly fisherman brings years of experience on the Atlantic coast.
Jack Samson: A seasoned fly fisherman with eighty two years under his belt when the book was published.
Jim Lepage: Angler with an eagerness to catch anything that swims and likes to share his tips and advice.
William Tapply: Bill is the son of H.G. Tapply, who wrote for Field and Stream magazine for years in a column called ‘Tap’s Tips’.
Matt Supinski: Works on the rivers over three hundred days of the year guiding and instructing anglers as well as taking photos.
John Shewey: A published author in his own right and his book “Fly Fishing for Summer Steelhead” (1996) is well worth a look!
Tom Deck: Director of the Orvis fly fishing school and has taught many thousands of pupils how to cast a fly.
GENRE: Fly fishing, trout fly fishing, steelhead fly fishing, bass fly fishing, saltwater fly fishing.
NUMBER OF PAGES: 256
PUBLICATION DATE: 2004
SUMMARY: Instruction book for teaching fly fishing techniques and methodologies for beginners and intermediate fly fishing anglers.
The book is divided into 34 chapters divided into five parts.
Part 1: Is the general section, divided into eleven chapters and introduces the reader to fly casting, leader building and basic knot tying.
The images and descriptions make it very easy to understand even for a complete novice as the authors have good connection with their readers and what they are looking for.
Part 2: Is all about trout, divided into ten chapters, including how they feed, a guide to insect entomology and identification, how to tell what trout are taking, approach and presentation, insect hatches, and different water types and how to fish them.
Part 3: This is a two-chapter section on steelhead which is 30 pages of instruction on water types presentation and fly swing.
Part 4: This is a three-chapter section introducing us to bass fishing and the differences in fishing for them from the top of the water or underneath the surface.
There is also a detailed section on how to cast and retrieve for bass.
Part 5: This is an eight-chapter section on saltwater fly fishing. Included topics are leader types and knots, habitats for different species, how to find bonefish or permits in the big expanse of water.
Also wading, casting and catching, a nice section on differences in saltwater flies, and lastly a section of special types of water, including flats, rocky cliffs, open beaches and jetties.
FINAL OPINION: Very informative book with great images and diagrams that explain the processes of casting, fly fishing and tying knots very well.
Great chapters on how fish see their meals and how to present flies correctly. Some advice is also given on entomology but doesn’t go into matching them with fly patterns but as explained in another article there is a lot to it and detailed books have been published on that.
The book doesn’t talk about fly tying, and some might fault that approach. In my opinion, there are many books devoted to that pastime, and if covered properly here, would only make this book very bulky.
However, if you are new or have already been fishing for a few years then I would recommend this book to your library as there is plenty of advice, techniques and descriptions to keep your mind active for many years.
About Author
Great read, Mark. You’ve obviously been through the entire book, and this thorough review is the end result. From what I’ve read, these fishing pros have pooled a vast amount of knowledge and funneled it directly into this wonderful resource. You may make a fisherman out of me yet!
Yes Bill you got that right! The overall experience from this team is massive and they have put together this book from real application not theory. If these guys tell you it works then you can rest assured it actually works. 🙂 With all those trout fly fishing rivers in the US you should get out there and try it you will be glad you did. Tight Lines!
I think some of the best books are from people that have never written before. They don’t write with ‘technique’, they just write down knowledge from experience, and hopefully an editor gets in there somewhere to make it comprehensible. Sometimes books can get ‘overproduced’ much like music. This one sounds like a very useful book.
Hey Nathaniell with this group of seasoned fly fishermen you know you are getting the benefits from their wisdom. It has everything a newbie would want to get started and more besides.
The extra chapters on saltwater fishing and steelhead are added bonuses bringing new information so you can fly fish other venues than just normal trout fisheries. 🙂
Out of all the fishing books you’ve recommended on here (I remember quite a few), which one is your number one? Sometimes it’s good to let us know where we should start off I think.
Hey Dom, I have reviewed a few books up to now and mentioned more in posts as part of further reading as you say. Like all things in sport there are dedicated books on certain aspects of that sport and fly fishing is no different. I have in my possession numerous books and DVD’s and am always adding to it.
You never stop learning and as you grow into the sport as new venues or types of fly fishing need to be researched, so it is always good to have a few book about you. However as you asked the question, for a novice the “Orvis Ultimate book of fly fishing” book here is a great investment and solid starting point.