Rusty Hook
01-23-2008, 09:21 AM
MOUNTAIN WATER, subtitled The Way of the High-Country Angler, is a soft bound, 174 page, 5 1/2 X 8 1/2 and less than 1/2 inch thick regional volume written by Craig Martin, and published by Pruett Publishing of Boulder Colorado. Craig lives and fishes in New Mexico but he also often fishes extensively in Colorado and Wyoming. Mountain water refers to mostly small tributary streams but also includes high mountain lakes in the Rockies. This is a very worth wile book for any Rocky Mountain small stream fisherman or high lake angler to have and read.
My history with book is some what checkered. I first happened upon it in a bookstore in the Monterey Bay area of California's central coast. I already had copies of John Gierach's, FLYFISHING THE HIGH COUNTRY and FLY FISHING SMALL STREAMS, so I didn't buy a copy of MOUNTAIN WATER at that time. Books about fishing small tributary streams are few and far between around here, and I always regretted not buying Martin's book enough that I began looking for it every time I went into a bookstore or a fly shop. It took several tears but I eventually found another copy and bought it, which was some what complicated by the fact that I didn't remember the book's name or the name of its author, but I did remember what it looked like and a lot of the pictuers that appeared in it.
After acquiring MOUNTAIN WATER, I took it home and read it. It was a good read and an informational book but not too applicable to my fishing at the time, as was Gierach's books because there was such a strong emphasis on up-wing mayfly patterns, which I have found to be the least used and useful patterns you can carry where I fish. I got the book out yesterday and reread it to see how some observations I had made on fishing conditions squared with what martin said in his work, and I found it to be a much better reference work than I had originally thought it was the first time around.
The book has not changed any while it was sitting on my book shelf, so the only explanation I can give you for its elevated status in my eyes is that I have learned enough to better appreciate the information Martin has presented in his book. In the Introduction, Martin sets the stage for our learning processes by contrasting small stream fishing in the Rockies with to the more usual big fish popular fisheries in the Fly Fishing For The Rest Of Us section, and by stating his 5 Mountain-Water Rules for success.
The book then makes a change indirection in chapter 1, focusing on High-Country Safety relating to problems with elevation, wading swift waters, and lightening. Chapter 2 deals with rod selection, reels, lines and leaders, wading, packing your gear in, mountain bikes, horses and lamas. Chapter 3 is a real gem of a chapter relating to fly selection - Match The Water, Not The Hatch - advocating to fewer but more effective fly patterns to be fished on mountain waters. Chapter 4 is on freestone streams and their characteristics and how to fish them well; chapter 5 covers fishing pocket water; chapter 6 is a whole chapter devoted only to brushy streams and how to best fish them; chapter 7 is devoted to meadow waters and their techniques, including terrestrial pattern information and fishing applications; chapter 8 covers High-Country Stillwaters, which is a little light on the midges for my taste but still filled with good solid information, including beaver pond fishing techniques; and chapter 9 covers finding new places to fish where most fishermen aren't, and how to locate lightly fished areas were roads and trails parallel streams with campgrounds located near by. All in all, I believe this would be a useful reference for anyone contemplating fishing small streams and high lakes in the Rockies. Cost of my copy was $18.95 some time back, I don't remember just how long.
Martin has written other outdoor and guide books, including: ENCHANTED WATERS: A GUIDE TO NEW MEXICO'S HOT SPRINGS, FLY FISHING SOUTHERN COLORADO, FLY FISHING IN NORTHERN NEW MEXICO, 75 HIKES IN NEW MEXICO, and MOUNTAIN BIKING IN NORTHERN NEW MEXICO: HISTORICAL and NATURAL HISTORY RIDES...Rusty.
My history with book is some what checkered. I first happened upon it in a bookstore in the Monterey Bay area of California's central coast. I already had copies of John Gierach's, FLYFISHING THE HIGH COUNTRY and FLY FISHING SMALL STREAMS, so I didn't buy a copy of MOUNTAIN WATER at that time. Books about fishing small tributary streams are few and far between around here, and I always regretted not buying Martin's book enough that I began looking for it every time I went into a bookstore or a fly shop. It took several tears but I eventually found another copy and bought it, which was some what complicated by the fact that I didn't remember the book's name or the name of its author, but I did remember what it looked like and a lot of the pictuers that appeared in it.
After acquiring MOUNTAIN WATER, I took it home and read it. It was a good read and an informational book but not too applicable to my fishing at the time, as was Gierach's books because there was such a strong emphasis on up-wing mayfly patterns, which I have found to be the least used and useful patterns you can carry where I fish. I got the book out yesterday and reread it to see how some observations I had made on fishing conditions squared with what martin said in his work, and I found it to be a much better reference work than I had originally thought it was the first time around.
The book has not changed any while it was sitting on my book shelf, so the only explanation I can give you for its elevated status in my eyes is that I have learned enough to better appreciate the information Martin has presented in his book. In the Introduction, Martin sets the stage for our learning processes by contrasting small stream fishing in the Rockies with to the more usual big fish popular fisheries in the Fly Fishing For The Rest Of Us section, and by stating his 5 Mountain-Water Rules for success.
The book then makes a change indirection in chapter 1, focusing on High-Country Safety relating to problems with elevation, wading swift waters, and lightening. Chapter 2 deals with rod selection, reels, lines and leaders, wading, packing your gear in, mountain bikes, horses and lamas. Chapter 3 is a real gem of a chapter relating to fly selection - Match The Water, Not The Hatch - advocating to fewer but more effective fly patterns to be fished on mountain waters. Chapter 4 is on freestone streams and their characteristics and how to fish them well; chapter 5 covers fishing pocket water; chapter 6 is a whole chapter devoted only to brushy streams and how to best fish them; chapter 7 is devoted to meadow waters and their techniques, including terrestrial pattern information and fishing applications; chapter 8 covers High-Country Stillwaters, which is a little light on the midges for my taste but still filled with good solid information, including beaver pond fishing techniques; and chapter 9 covers finding new places to fish where most fishermen aren't, and how to locate lightly fished areas were roads and trails parallel streams with campgrounds located near by. All in all, I believe this would be a useful reference for anyone contemplating fishing small streams and high lakes in the Rockies. Cost of my copy was $18.95 some time back, I don't remember just how long.
Martin has written other outdoor and guide books, including: ENCHANTED WATERS: A GUIDE TO NEW MEXICO'S HOT SPRINGS, FLY FISHING SOUTHERN COLORADO, FLY FISHING IN NORTHERN NEW MEXICO, 75 HIKES IN NEW MEXICO, and MOUNTAIN BIKING IN NORTHERN NEW MEXICO: HISTORICAL and NATURAL HISTORY RIDES...Rusty.