Book: Fly Fishing Yellowstone Park

A fisherman could spend a lifetime exploring Yellowstone’s waters—and it would be a life well spent. At least that’s what I got out of Fly Fishing Yellowstone National Park: An Insider’s Guide to the 50 Best Places (Stackpole Books, $20). Extremely well-written, this guide is a breath of fresh air, blending the standard where-to information with colorful commentary and entertaining tales from various fishing experts, industry professionals, and well-known personalities who fish. Many of the names are widely recognizable—Dick Cheney, Jimmy Carter, Doug Peacock, Thomas McGuane, Craig Mathews, Bob Jacklin—while others are a veritable who’s-who of local characters (and Outside Bozeman contributors) whose lives revolve around fishing. The author, Nate Schweber, is himself a Montana native, and it shows. Like anyone who grows up in God’s country, he understands that the landscape and people shape our experiences; that stories tell us more about the nature of a thing than facts and statistics do; and that there’s much, much more to fishing than just catching fish. This is what makes Fly Fishing Yellowstone National Park a great guidebook: it’s equally suitable for quick reference on the river and enjoyable reading afterward. Available at Country Bookshelf and stackpolebooks.com.