Fly Fishing Colorado's Backcountry - Ron Belak

This is a how-to book primarily aimed at the backcountry angler in Colorado, but about half of the book is applicable to fly fishing for trout anywhere. It is a soft cover in an 8.5 by 11-inch format with almost 450 color photos and almost 200 pages.

This how-to book on fly fishing is aimed primarily at the backcountry angler in Colorado but is relevant to fly fishing for trout anywhere. It consists of an organized collection of over 40 essays that were previously published in Colorado Outdoors magazine, the official publication of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, from 1994 through 2018. All essays were updated in 2018, and the book is illustrated with almost 450 color photos. It is a soft cover in an 8.5 by 11-inch format and contains almost 200 pages. The book consists of seven logical chapters. The first chapter contains basic information on high-mountain lakes, small streams and backpacking. Chapter 2 instructs the reader on how to go about researching and preparing for fishing the Colorado backcountry. Chapter 3 consists of seasonal strategies, with particular emphasis on stillwaters. Fly-fishing techniques and equipment are covered in the fourth chapter, including dry-fly fishing, nymphing stillwaters, streamer tactics and tenkara. Chapter 5 gives insight into fish biology and offers techniques on how to pursue brook trout and cutthroats--the two species of trout most common in the Colorado backcountry. Entomology, fly patterns and fly tying are the subject of Chapter 6. Essays in this chapter stress the difference between the entomology in the backcountry and the more accessible and frequently fished rivers. This chapter also emphasizes easily tied versatile patterns. Chapter 7 includes a few articles that did not neatly fit into the other chapters.