Pennsylvania Trout Streams and Their Hatches

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Summary: The Bible. Thorough, concise, flawless. A must for PA fishin
Review: Charlie is flawless in his information. The updated version has many new streams. His reviews are right on. I can't imagine fishing PA without it. This is the book that started all the other state fishing books.

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Summary: It does everything but catch trout!
Review: I read a review saying that Charlie's book couldn't actually catch the trout. Well no kidding, however, it has led me to many unknown streams in the entire state. I have compared it to the Landis book and there is NO comparison. The Landis book contains NO hatch information. PA Trout Streams is THE guide book for flyfishing any of Pennsylvania's top streams. I wholeheartedly recommend it. Beware of imitators, stick with Charlie Meck. It has indepth information on where to fish, and the hatch information is second to none - Landis. I have both books, don't make my mistake, buy Charlie's books (PA trout and Mid Atlantic Trout Streams and Their Hatches), they won't let you down.

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Summary: With the imput Charlie had he couldn't do wrong.
Review: I've always thought that it was a good sumation of all the information that you seemed to worm out of us and then present it in an intelligent form so that even I could read it and understand what you were talking about. Once again I wish to thank you. Curt.

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Summary: There are better and worse PA stream guides than this.
Review: Mr. Meck does an admirable job of profiling numerous Keystone State trout anglers and their home waters as a way of pursuing his subject matter. As a lifelong PA wild trout addict however, I think much of the information here is misleading, particularly to the fledgling fly fisher. Meck's concentration on the given hatches on a particular PA waterway is not tempered with an parallel explanations that in many cases, matching the hatches described is not necessary, let alone critical to success on the waterway being profiled. Or at it's worst, the hatch being profiled is not one that tends to interest trout on the subject stream. This can lead to situations where you get to see a decent hatch, but no fish. If Meck says a hatch exists on a given waterway, you can pretty well bank on it's being present. His research and hatch information is accuate. What cannot be banked on is the trout in the stream paying any attention to the hatch under discussion or even showing any preference for same in their feeding. This can be very confusing to the neophyte and many newcomers have to be disabused and "deprogrammed" of the notions Mr. Meck advances. All in all, if one remembers that Mr. Meck appears to be just as enamoured of insects as he of trout causing him to wax on at significant length about hatches that are in reality not all that important, this can be a useful introductory guidebook to Pennsylvania's trout streams. However, it's utility pales compared to that of the similiar Landis book. In my opinion, if you want a decent book to get started in the sport, the Meck book will do. If you want a PA stream guide that you will wear out over and over and will never outgrow as your knowledge increases, the Landis book is far superior.