THREE BOOKS (SECOND PART)

NYMPH FISHING TECHNIQUES (Mario Rojo del Busto)

Talking about Mario Rojo is not talking about any fly fisherman . Mario Rojo is an institution as far as nymph fishing is concerned. In fact he has been the only spanish author who has published an exclusive fishing book for nymph fishing. In the United States it is an institution, not only as a fisherman but also as a famous assembler of artificial nymphs.

The book he published in castellano is a true nymph fishing treaty. It was published in 1997 by Orinoco Artes Gráficas and was distributed by the same author because of the small number of edited copies. Its acquisition at the moment is very complicated by what can be considered like a singular and almost extinct work. It can still be found in some bookstores or online.

The book of almost 200 pages, begins with three chapters dedicated exclusively to the feeding of trout, which as we know, feed mostly on nymphs. Thus he dedicates three chapters to the ephemeroptera, the caddis flies and finally to the plecoptera (increasingly rare). All chapters dealing with these underwater invertebrates are well stocked with numerous color photographs and drawings, detailing all the insect larvae of these families and their biological cycles. Of special importance are the order of the tricópteros in which it is logical to divide the larvae of these in Eruciforms and Campodeiforms. The former carry their cases attached to the body and move with it everywhere, while the latter only construct the case in the final phase of the metamorphosis to become an adult insect.

Chapters 5, 6 and 7 are for me the most interesting of all the work. In the fifth, the inspection and wading tactics in the river are considered. Items of great importance for the nymph fisherman when framing in the river and knowing where you can find the trout wagered in the stream.
It follows, in the sixth chapter presenting considerations of great importance to the fisherman as they are, the depth of the artificial drift, the nymph indicator, the nymph rod, nymphs casts (this vital aspect) and the leaders and tippets for nymph fishing.

The seventh and last chapter describes in detail all the appropriate techniques for fishing trout with nymphs, such as: dead drift upstream, current through, downstream, heavy line fishing, with swimming nymphs, Spanish fishing technique, Slip nymph, fishing technique with two flies and finally the known technique with Spanish wet flies.

Finally, Mario Rojo does not leave anything of relevance unworthy in this treaty of nymph fishing and from my point of view is one of the best fishing books that I have read in terms of fly fishing techniques. I must also say that the book (like all very technical books) is a bit rough. Especially at the beginning. It is from those books that we have to read them a couple of times in order to understand their reasoning and assimilate the concepts (which are dense) that we transmit. This is a book that will be of great help to learn a lot of things about nymph fishing and that transferred the knowledge to our own experiences in the river, will provide us with pleasant experiences.

FLY FISHING STRATEGY Doug Swisher & Carl Richards

Talking about this book is talking about a legend in the fly fishing literature. I think this book is one of the most popular around the world. He edited it here, editorial TUTOR, specialist in fishing topics and Emilio Fernandez Román owe us a great deal (translator of this book), for his enormous involvement in the edition of numerous fishing works, among which many books stand out, such as Fishing from A to Z, of its own creation.

The content of this work that touches the artistic by the innovative and creative that is the book even today; Is so vast and broad that I will reduce my impressions and comments only to certain aspects. The drawings are by Dave Whitlock, another well-known fisherman and author of several books. The black and white photographs that give it a legendary appearance and its fifteen chapters along almost two hundred pages provide us with a large number of knowledge that remain the most current. It is a work in which the enthusiasm and dedication of the two authors, who are fishermen of great talent, can be felt.

The book published in the United States in 1975 and that as usual did not reach us until 1996, more than 20 years !!!, begins with techniques of launched to fly. Here it is revealed the importance of the Reach cast or thrown extended to present our artificial ones. This release is of paramount importance when it comes to showing a fly or a nymph to a trout while avoiding the tedious dredging of this trout. I emphasize this launch by using it constantly. It also teaches us the most appropriate loops or loops and their differences, the correct form of the throw to fly, the positive and negative curved casts, the slack cast, the serpentines, shoot the rod, the correct alignment etc … For me it is perfect that A book begins with the casting thecnique, because it is primordial. Without a correct fly casting there is no good fly fishing.

“Fishing the water, with no apparent presence of fish on the surface.” It is a long, dense, suggestive and very fishy title for a new chapter of a book on fly fishing. Here it shows us how to fish with any type of imitation without seeing any trout feeding of these. “Fishing the rise” is the chapter that follows and I think this one does not need translation for a fly fisherman. Follows with the hatching of insects, dividing them into simple and complex. At the beginning of the chapter, a black and white photograph of the North Fork of the Snake River, one of the best trout rivers, gives a touch of majesty to it. Then the drawings of Whitlock with the rainbow feeding on the surface and the ephemeras flying around it are a clear invitation to take the fly rod and go fishing for the nearest river.

The Stillborn situations, deserve to be studied separately and for this they make another chapter, tremendously innovative and interesting. Numerous subimago and emergent imitations of great utility and effectiveness are described here. I think that very few authors of trout fly books would have thought to dedicate a whole chapter, so documented and studied about “stillborn” situations, which are more common at the time of the hatch tan what the fly fisherman can think of.

They continue to describe the fishing steelhead and atlantic salmon with one-handed rods, special fly tying  with full-color and high precision photographs for the time, fishing in lakes, fly rods, equipment from fisherman to fly and an enthralling chapter of fly fishing at sea with very light equipment. Rods of 4 and 5 for good sized marine fish with fine tippets, poppers and bugtails.

In short, an exciting book, written with exasperating knowledge and with tremendous rigor. Very technical book, dense, rich in knowledge of extraordinary value, make this a splendid work and unique in its kind.

~ Carles Vivé