Third in a series of books kindly offered up for review and give away by Skyhorse Publishing, Fly Fishing the Southeast Coast is authored by Capt. Gordon Churchill, former full time fly fishing guide and key writer of Capt. Gordon’s Fishing Reports, an active fly fishing blog based out of North Carolina.
As a dyed-in-the-wool DIY fly angler, I’ve long been a fan of good guidebooks, and have two bookshelves lined with favorites (and even a few dogs that have snuck in over the years) from trips near and far.
As a guy who considers the Northern Rockies my spiritual fly fishing home grounds, I’ve grown used to guides books being organized around waterways and geography. To do so simply seems intuitive as that’s how most of us think about approaching these great waterways of the West.
Reading through Fly Fishing the Southeast Coast, I was pleasantly surprised to find the book organized not by geography but by fish species. Of course this makes perfect sense given the focus and intent of the book, and in fact, it makes for a damned informative and easy to digest read on the region.
Intriguingly covering both fresh and salt water, Churchill covers the bread and butter species that every fly angler has on their bucket lists – bass (largemouth and striped), redfish, bluefish, speckled trout (specks), spanish mackerel, bonito, cobia, false albacore, and mahi mahi – and a few that typically don’t make the list for most fly anglers, hickory shad and amberjack for example.
His coverage of flies is very well done, as are additional insights into equipment, working with guides, and special techniques for different water depths.
There’s even a damned useful chapter on improving your casting, an area so few approach with deliberate intent even though they desperately need the work. There are things you need to do with a big fly, with an 8 or 10-weight rod and line, in the wind on the coast that a life of flinging flies out of the bow of drift boat (particularly one captained by the guide powering your ass all day) on the Missouri or Madison simply don’t teach you. Doing is always a better teacher than reading, but Churchill’s comments on casting will get you ready to learn.
Overall a nifty effort and worthy of a place on your guide book shelf.
DRAWING CLOSED SUNDAY AM 25 JUNE – THIS COPY IS HEADED TO NORTH CAROLINA.
One again we have a prime, untouched and unopened copy to give away. Fire an email here with your contact information and FF the SE Coast in the subject line – we’ll draw for this one on Sunday morning the 25th at 0700 central time.
Cheers and good reading.
