Description:
Tired of squeezing in shoulder-to-shoulder amongst the horde of other fly-fishers at your usual tailwater? Go climb a mountain instead. In his primer on the joys of fishing mountain lakes, Gary LaFontaine reveals the tantalizing secrets behind such angling exotica as ice-out, floss blow lines, the rollover scud, and four-legged hiking companions (i.e., pack animals). If that's not enough to prime the calf muscles and fire the imagination, consider the possibility of lunker cutthroats cruising the shallows of a remote alpine lake, or perhaps a Hollywood-attired golden trout glinting in the sunlight as it rises for a bivisible. Sure beats tangling your line with some oaf on the San Juan. The author of such thoughtful and innovative instructionals as Caddisflies, The Dry Fly: New Angles, and Trout Flies: Proven Patterns, LaFontaine is a trustworthy guide to the higher altitudes. Fly Fishing Mountain Lakes is more streamlined than those other tomes, but it still benefits from the author's patented M.O.: observe and adapt. There are chapters on tackle, fly selection, and stillwater tactics--and thankfully the wisdom (some of it fairly technical) is peppered with anecdotes, good humor, and log entries from the author's own expeditions. The main drawback is a cursory overview of how to choose a destination. Much of the fun--and skill--of fishing the high country is studying topographic maps and researching old fish-stocking plans. No angler, after all, wants to hike 10 miles cross-country to a lake brimming with stunted four-inch brookies. But that's a minor quibble. Fly Fishing the Mountain Lakes is an entertaining and eminently useful addition to the angling library. --Langdon Cook
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