Must-Reads in Classic Fly-Fishing Literature, with Michael Checchio

The Orvis Fly-Fishing Podcast

James Hathaway

Bass, Fishing, Bonefish, Wilderness, Flyfishing, Trout, How To, Steelhead, Bluegill, Fly, Orvis, Sports, Salmon, Panfish, Education, Rosenbauer

4.8 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 13 November 2023

⏱️ 80 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

I get frequent questions from listeners on what I would recommend they read in fly-fishing literature, as there is so much out there it's tough to sort through it to find what's worth reading. Michael Checchio [38:10] is a retired journalist and investigative reporter and a student of fly-fishing books, so we spend some time discussing what he feels are must-reads (or maybe just interesting reads) in the vast river of what has been written about fly fishing.

Here is Michael's list:

Fiction

A River Runs through It by Norman Maclean
"Big Two-Hearted River" by Ernest Hemingway (short story)
Ninety-Two in the Shade by Thomas McGuane
The River Why by David James Duncan

Non-fiction

The Longest Silence by Thomas McGuane
The Angler's Coast and Dark Waters by Russell Chatham
The Curtis Creek Manifesto by Sheridan Anderson
"Hat Creek" and "Deeds Among the Steelhead" by Bill Barich (magazine articles; may be tough to find)
The Spawning Run by William Humphrey
Trout Bum by John Gierach
"The Same River Twice" by David Quammen (published in Outside Magazine)
"A Sporting Life" by Jim Harrison (magazine article, may be tough to find)
My Story as Told by Water by David James Duncan

In the Fly Box this week, we have lots of questions and tips, including:

How do I know when to strip strike and when to trout strike?
Do I really need to go barbless on small dry-fly hooks?
How do I know what size material to use if I want to lengthen my leader?
A great tip from a listener on learning to cast with your "off" hand
A tip from a listener on wetting new tying materials befor you use them to see what color they will be
Why do I only see larger wild brown trout in one section of a river I fish?
How do I see my sighter in difficult lighting conditions?
If I am fishing for stocked rainbows and grayling, where should I place my grayling fly—on the bottom or on the dropper?
Should I use my 10-foot 7-weight Recon that I use for steelhead for streamer fishing from a boat for trout?
What is the main difference between a Helios D and Helios F rod when fishing for bonefish?
My bamboo ferrule only fits ¾ of the way to full engagement. Is that OK?
Why do I see steelhead smolt in my river but never chinook salmon smolt?
Is there any way to get the bad smell off a bucktail?
Why don't people fish bucktails much these days?
Is there a way to tell a northern strain from a southern strain brook trout visually?

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi and welcome to the Orvis Fly Fishing Podcast. This is your host Tom
0:14.7	Rosenbauer and my guest this week is Michael Checkio and Michael has been
0:21.6	reviewing classic fly fishing books for many years in California flyfisher
0:28.2	and recently wrote kind of a roundup of what he believes are the best classic fly fishing books.
0:37.0	And I get this question a lot, particularly during the wintertime.
0:41.0	I get this question from people who want to go back and read some of the some of the older stuff and they don't there's a lot there are a lot of fishing books out there a lot of fly fishing books out there and they don't they don't know exactly where to start. So Michael presents us with an
0:56.6	excellent list of a varied bunch of authors definitely and most of the times I agree with Michael's
1:06.9	list so I guess that's why I had them as a guess but it's a fun podcast and if
1:11.6	if you've been interested in delving into some of the classic fly fishing
1:16.7	literature, not just really old stuff but newer stuff as well, I think you'll enjoy this
1:22.1	podcast. And before we do the flybox just
1:27.0	wanted to give you a heads up that there's a bunch of really desirable
1:32.1	products on sale on the Orvis website.
1:35.0	Things like H3 rods, which I don't know if they've ever gone on sale before,
1:41.0	Recon rods, ultra light waiters and boots.
1:44.0	Some of my favorite, the underwaiter pants, which, you know,
1:48.0	wintertime coming are going to be going to be valuable for winter fishing and really spring fishing.
1:55.0	And also a bunch of lines and reels.
1:57.5	So check out the Orvis website for the stuff that's on sale
2:01.9	and you might want to leave a hint for a Christmas present for your loved ones or from your loved ones I should say.
2:11.0	All right, let's get to the flybox.
2:16.0	And the flybox is where you send me questions and I try to answer them.
	...

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