Fly Fishing the Pacific Inshore: Strategies for Estuaries, Bays, and Beaches

Unless it results in pointing too many other anglers to your pet spot, a new book that makes sense of close-to-home fishing opportunities is always welcome. For the West Coast saltwater fly angler who is interested in more than just the frequently - documented striped bass fishery, California Fly Fisher Contributing Editor Ken Hanley¹s latest book, Fly Fishing the Pacific Inshore, offers a great deal of useful information.

Hanley - who¹s probably getting old and gray enough to be a little distressed by just how many years he¹s actually spent prowling the beaches and estuaries of our long left coast- approaches his subject by dividing it into discussions first of habitat, then of gamefish behavior, and finally of tackle, tactics, and watercraft. These categories inevitabley meld into each other somewhat, but the basic approach lends necessary and helpful structure to the work.

After an excellent overview of the geographical and hydrological peculairites of West Coast saltwater environments, Hanley follows with profiles on more than a dozen gamefish. There¹s lots of helpful information here, including some wonderful ideas on fly fishing for the leopard sharks that seem to be everywhere along our inshore coast.

The tackle and tactics section covers appropriate rods, reels and lines, including the use of 6 and 7 weights and specialty fly lines.Throughout, one gets the feeling that Hanley is speaking about what he¹s done himself, that his information is the product of real trial and error fishing, and that what he says is bankable. In a welcome departure from most knee-jerk outdoor writing, he actually suggests that inshore fly fishers don¹t need much more that 75 yards of backing behind their fly lines unless they¹re after something large or fast. That¹s a courageous claim, albeit one that¹s sure to get him yanked from the freebie lists of backing manufacturers who seem to have convinced every other writer to proclaim the need for at least 150 yards of something expensive in order to safely bring to hand a 5-pound striper or a 14- inch smelt.

The final chapters in the tactics and tackle section deal with presentation strategies, prey species and the flies that imitate them, the various watercraft that an inshore angler will find useful, and fly recipes. Again, there is much helpful information here ranging from the very basic, such as retrieving with the rod tip pointed down, to the innovative (how to outfit a canoe for fishing protected waters), to the refreshingly sensible (as in, ³First let me emphasize--strongly emphasize-- that I don¹t endorse float tubes and pontoon boats for general saltwater use²).

The book itself has been handsomely produced by Greycliff -- large pages bound between hard covers, with easy to read print and spacious margins for those of us inclined to make notes.