By Shannon Drawe
Two Texas fly fishermen walk into a bar in Ennis, Montana. They sit down at the bar, but what they hear aren’t the typical fisherman’s bar jokes. The complaints are swirling, from other fly fishermen, mostly about the fishing pressure.
“We overheard other anglers complaining about the crowds, and the number of anglers and boats on the water,” Illich said. “We listened for fifteen minutes.”
It didn’t match the experience Capt. Collins Illich and friend Nicholas Conklin had on the Madison River that day.
And from that moment, in 2022, came the new book “Fly Fishing Pressured Waters, Tactics, Techniques and Strategies for Popular Western Rivers and Beyond.”
“Nick and I felt like their attitudes robbed them of a day of fishing. They were so focused on the perceived negatives, they didn’t even enjoy a day fishing with their friends,”Illich said.
“We also felt there was a disconnect, or lack of awareness, in how anglers approach their tackle, skill building and general preparation before hitting the river,” Conklin said.
Almost photographic writing, the authors capture a moment in time many anglers are keenly aware of. It is the time of COVID, and the pressure, and drive to be outside was immense, the future uncertain. Fishing, and especially fly fishing, was experiencing a “second coming,” a time that looked a lot like the bubble from “A River Runs Through it,” but this time the rivers, almost all of them, seemed to buckle under the intense pressure. At least that is how it looked to the thousands of new fly fishermen stepping up to the water’s edge, or onto a drift boat.
The first snapshot is of a time in North America that may never come again. The pandemic was settling out, but the demand get out and to fish, especially the Northern and Southern Rockies, wasn’t letting up. It was a time that redefined fishing pressure, and the sociological and numerical evidence is where this book begins.
“Nick and I spent a lot of time on one stretch of the Madison River two summers ago. I counted forty-one drift boats in my view. There were really only two options; stop fishing (not going to work for us), or adapt,” Illich said. T
he long exposure of “Fly Fishing Pressured Waters,” is about how to deal with pressure by taking the measures that Conklin and Illich have used for their own success, and strategies they have seen, learned and used over decades of fly fishing. This premeditated game plan prepares readers for success on the water, and mends the attitudes of those who fall easily into complaints and quitting to blame pressure.
Whether it is choosing the right tackle for the destination, segregating your fly boxes into categories based on time, or taking the time to let your waders and boots dry out before packing them, no worthy detail escapes this book. And the authors call on fishermen to get outside their comfort zones, “Fishing When Others Won’t,” and as business-like as it sounds, “Time Management.” They also leave no river rock unturned though, with attention to the details of wading, and drift boat fishing, and down to the gear distinctions for whatever you find yourself up against in the pressured Western United States.
This is a book well worth the read, and it is important to document the COVID era for those who come into the fishing sport in the future. That, along with a book loaded with the strategies, preparations and tips that can make you more successful no matter how often you fish, “Fly Fishing Pressured Waters,” amounts to an enjoyable reference book, that is both historic and current.
