On the Trout Stream with Joe Humphreys

Book excerpt: This unique adventure in book publishing takes you through a series of detailed, exciting lessons from one of the great fly fishermen of all time, Joe Humphreys. In extraordinary photo sequences, detailed captions, and imaginative, original schematic drawings illustrating theory as well as practical technique, Joe shows you how to catch trout. Joe talks directly to you, the reader, in On the Trout Stream, as if you were wading along beside him for a one-on-one lesson. You are in the current at his side as he points out ways to read water, shows you what tippet-fly combo he’s going to use for a particular stream situation, discusses casting, makes his approach, and, with you at his side, lands fish. Joe goes into the basics of bottom-drifting the nymph. He talks conditioning—the context of the weather’s seasonal rhythms and how trout react, as well as how their behavior is affected by a dozen other factors, from light to temperature to the nature of the food chain. He shows you his favorite flies, some of them never-before-photographed originals, with advice on tying and fishing. He shows you ways to figure out what the trout are taking and how, in a myriad of different stream situations. You wade along with Joe as he plies intermixing currents, pocket water, riffles, pools, runs, feeder streams, spring holes, guts, shallows, and tight brush with his nymphs and dry flies, showing you—and talking to you—step-by-step through his system of fishing: a body of knowledge developed in over 100,000 hours of hands-on trouting experience on some of the world’s toughest water. How do you get that weighted nymph bouncing naturally over the bottom where it’s going to catch fish? What is the single most important factor in casting the dry fly? How should you build your leader for different types of water, current, and stream-configuration? When should you ignore water temperature? What’s the one nymph-approach trout can’t seem to resist? What’s the secret of the hook-up? On the Trout Stream gives you hard information and instruction in an original, highly visual presentation of how Joe Humphreys actually fishes. Unprecedented in approach, full of new tips as well as photo-sequence explanations of techniques never before fully explained anywhere, this reading—and looking—experience will prove indispensable to anyone who has already grasped the basics of fly fishing and is surely destined to take its place among the innovative teaching texts in any sport.