Tactical Fly Fishing: Lessons Learned from Competition for All Anglers

I've been fly fishing close to 60 years, but I'm new to euro-nymphing and bought the book mainly for further information on this approach. I have to say that while it is a great reference for euro-nymphing I was surprised to find it also packed with lots of excellent information on trout behavior, reading water, seasonal considerations, and mixing euro-nymphing with dry-dropper and suspension techniques. I own both the DVD's on euro-nymphing by Devin Olsen and Lance Egan and this book was a great compliment to that material. Apparently you in fact "can teach an old dog new tricks" if your style is interesting, engaging and informative. Great book!

This is a very useful book with great insights afforded by the author's long history of fly fishing, former job as a fisheries biologist, and a dozen years learning and distilling lessons through the lens of competition. As mentioned in the book, whether or not you like the idea of fly fishing competitions, they have produced new tools for the everyday fly fisher who is interested in actually catching some fish. I like the case by case explanation of fly fishing solutions to each river feature and the utilitarian fly recipes section. A major feature of the book is an extensive set of photographs intermixed with very useful drawings. The drawings are excellent. The photos were fun to see but they were hit or miss in conveying useful info. The "hits" were labelled with lines or letters to pinpoint zones and specific locations, but I would have liked to see a font or color of letter that stood out better. Photos that "missed" contained no letters or lines and/or urged in the caption to look closely to find a feature that really could not be seen clearly. Or owing to the mottled background and generally dark rendering of the photos, the rod and/or line could not be seen to be doing what was explained in the caption. Other than the photo misses, I really liked the book and look forward to more books and videos from Devin in the future.

I have been fly fishing for more than 60 years and still learning. This book explains the best techniques for reading the water and systematically fishing it piece by piece. He considers all the important variables before entering the water. His methods have been honed fishing and wining in world fly fishing competitions. His presentations are systematically explained while describing various rigs for fishing dry flies, streamers and using Euro nymphing methods. He does a great job explaining how to read the various types of water with a chapter for each. He writes about fishing all the water including water types that are usually ignored by other anglers. This is good to understand given the density of anglers on many rivers. If you want to learn Euro fishing I know of no better book.

Interesting book, well written with good photography work throughout. This would be a good book for people wanting to get a better idea of nymphing in general, with aspects of Euro nymphing. However, for an advanced fisherman, this book is a lot of “redo” although there are a few pearls distributed throughout. Altogether- a very nice book well done by the author.

I've learned a lot from tactical fly fishing and the modern nymphing videos. When I saw this book was out I bought it immediately and it didn't disappoint. Along with George Daniel's book it should be on every fisherman's shelf.

This book provides and in depth, updated perspective on fly fishing using the techniques that world competitive fly fishermen use. It not only covers the techniques perfected in world class events, but helps you understand how to approach the river, how to fish places you would normally walk by, and chapter by chapter guidelines on the various types of water (runs, riffles, flats, etc). One of the best and most useful fly fishing manuals you will read.

I have a ton of fly fishing books, this particular book is a must have. I refer back to it like a reference over and over again. The book also covers various jumping techniques, and is a great how to guide. If you are new to the euro technique this is a great read. It seems as though the tips and tricks are never ending, I'm always piking up something else or something I must have scammed over previously. Bottomline, organized well, written well and you can go out and put the suggestions to work on the water without hesitation.

I found this book interesting and informative. As a life-long fly fisherman and avid reader I found the information somewhat repetitive after reading George Daniels' books. The information is solid and well written. I was disappointed in the lack of stillwater information especially considering stillwaters were specifically mentioned in the description.

This is a very informative fly fishing book it lends a little bit heavy on the nymph style fishing. Which I like. and have been always interested in. It gets pretty technical on reading the water ,which is something I've been working for for a long time. It has a lot of color pictures and technical detail. It will be a prized possession to add to my fly fishing book collection.

I'm not about competitive fishing, but I do like to catch fish. This book is filled with advice on how to do that, from reading water to where and how to fish that water...and I say that having read only the first half of the book so far. That's it for now...time to get back to reading about tactical fly fishing!!

I've been fly fishing close to 60 years, but I'm new to euro-nymphing and bought the book mainly for further information on this approach. I have to say that while it is a great reference for euro-nymphing I was surprised to find it also packed with lots of excellent information on trout behavior, reading water, seasonal considerations, and mixing euro-nymphing with dry-dropper and suspension techniques. I own both the DVD's on euro-nymphing by Devin Olsen and Lance Egan and this book was a great compliment to that material. Apparently you in fact "can teach an old dog new tricks" if your style is interesting, engaging and informative. Great book!

This is a very useful book with great insights afforded by the author's long history of fly fishing, former job as a fisheries biologist, and a dozen years learning and distilling lessons through the lens of competition. As mentioned in the book, whether or not you like the idea of fly fishing competitions, they have produced new tools for the everyday fly fisher who is interested in actually catching some fish. I like the case by case explanation of fly fishing solutions to each river feature and the utilitarian fly recipes section. A major feature of the book is an extensive set of photographs intermixed with very useful drawings. The drawings are excellent. The photos were fun to see but they were hit or miss in conveying useful info. The "hits" were labelled with lines or letters to pinpoint zones and specific locations, but I would have liked to see a font or color of letter that stood out better. Photos that "missed" contained no letters or lines and/or urged in the caption to look closely to find a feature that really could not be seen clearly. Or owing to the mottled background and generally dark rendering of the photos, the rod and/or line could not be seen to be doing what was explained in the caption. Other than the photo misses, I really liked the book and look forward to more books and videos from Devin in the future.

I have been fly fishing for more than 60 years and still learning. This book explains the best techniques for reading the water and systematically fishing it piece by piece. He considers all the important variables before entering the water. His methods have been honed fishing and wining in world fly fishing competitions. His presentations are systematically explained while describing various rigs for fishing dry flies, streamers and using Euro nymphing methods. He does a great job explaining how to read the various types of water with a chapter for each. He writes about fishing all the water including water types that are usually ignored by other anglers. This is good to understand given the density of anglers on many rivers. If you want to learn Euro fishing I know of no better book.

Interesting book, well written with good photography work throughout. This would be a good book for people wanting to get a better idea of nymphing in general, with aspects of Euro nymphing. However, for an advanced fisherman, this book is a lot of “redo” although there are a few pearls distributed throughout. Altogether- a very nice book well done by the author.

I've learned a lot from tactical fly fishing and the modern nymphing videos. When I saw this book was out I bought it immediately and it didn't disappoint. Along with George Daniel's book it should be on every fisherman's shelf.

This book provides and in depth, updated perspective on fly fishing using the techniques that world competitive fly fishermen use. It not only covers the techniques perfected in world class events, but helps you understand how to approach the river, how to fish places you would normally walk by, and chapter by chapter guidelines on the various types of water (runs, riffles, flats, etc). One of the best and most useful fly fishing manuals you will read.

I have a ton of fly fishing books, this particular book is a must have. I refer back to it like a reference over and over again. The book also covers various jumping techniques, and is a great how to guide. If you are new to the euro technique this is a great read. It seems as though the tips and tricks are never ending, I'm always piking up something else or something I must have scammed over previously. Bottomline, organized well, written well and you can go out and put the suggestions to work on the water without hesitation.

I found this book interesting and informative. As a life-long fly fisherman and avid reader I found the information somewhat repetitive after reading George Daniels' books. The information is solid and well written. I was disappointed in the lack of stillwater information especially considering stillwaters were specifically mentioned in the description.

This is a very informative fly fishing book it lends a little bit heavy on the nymph style fishing. Which I like. and have been always interested in. It gets pretty technical on reading the water ,which is something I've been working for for a long time. It has a lot of color pictures and technical detail. It will be a prized possession to add to my fly fishing book collection.

I'm not about competitive fishing, but I do like to catch fish. This book is filled with advice on how to do that, from reading water to where and how to fish that water...and I say that having read only the first half of the book so far. That's it for now...time to get back to reading about tactical fly fishing!!

Just received Tactical Fly Fishing and, after reading 34 pages, I can safely say it’s among the top three fly fishing books I’ve seen... and I’ve read many books on fly fishing. If you fly fish trout in rivers, this is a “must have”.

This book is a game changer for the advanced fly fisher. Just buy it. I highlighted mine, have gone through it scores of times re-reading over and over. Will read it again next year and, for me, represents one of the most logical treatments of contact and indicator nymph fishing.

Bought this book to learn about Euro nymphing techniques and it did not disappoint. The book does a great job of demystifying how to fish this style, when to use it, what you’ll need, etc. I have been taking this book with me to the river almost every time I go out, as I find myself constantly referencing it for some piece of information about gear, rigging, tips, techniques, etc. Bottom line: it has helped me catch many more fish than I ever thought was possible and I would recommend it to anybody looking to take their fishing to the next level.

Lots of good data and design specs. Case studies are good. Photos could be higher resolution on iPad kindle app. Lines on the illustrations would be an enhancement. Overall a fine book. Good companion to the videos.

A book full of solid , useful advice. The author is a biologist and accomplished fly fisherman. His insights have helped me become more successful.

The book is well written and understandable with good images and pictures for demonstration. It is suitable to enhance even very advanced fly fishers level of expertise.

Devin has written an excellent book to teach fly fishermen the fundamentals and tactics of euro nymphing. These techniques will help you to catch more fish.

This book has invaluable information for fly fishermen who want to learn how to use Euro fly fishing techniques or improve their Euro fly fishing skills but it also has useful information for fly fishermen who enjoy fishing streams with conventional fly fishing techniques.

Loaded with detailed case studies on how to fish different types of stream reaches. But even before rigging up for time on the water, it explains forming your day’s strategy.

The book has very detailed and useful information. It was written by an expert fly fisherman who dedicated his life to the sport of fly fishing.

Great book if you want to catch more fish. This book takes you through it all. Strategy. Rigging. Lures. How to approach the river and what is going on in the water.

I've always hated nymphing and now I know why! This book clearly explains how to nymph, approach specific water and more! Well written, well illustrated and well worth the money and time!

I have read this book multiple times and continue to come back to it for reference, whether that be for leader designs or confidence flies. Add in his Modern Nymphing video series with Lance Egan and there isn't a better reference set out there. If you take fly fishing seriously this is for you.

outstanding book--great value Every fly angler would benefit from this book.

Devin Olsen has done a very good job in distilling his vast experience in competitive fly fishing into an easy to understand approach that will improve your catch rate.

I found this an excellent read, and very instructional. If you haven’t seen the videos Modern Nymphing and Modern Nymphing Elevated you’re missing out. This is a great companion to those videos.

Great book on the tactics of fly fishing.

Solid advice on gear, casting technique and flies. The sections on reading water are probably the most beneficial.

Devin Olsen’s book really covers the whole experience of tight line fly fishing. The setups, techniques, when, where and how to to fish these systems. Just excellent resource, highly recommended.

Excellent book. Well written and full of valuable information. Actual condition of the book was equal to or better than the description given by seller.

Excellent read

Very thorough, as you would expect from their film.

Packed full of tips and thinking from a great angler

A masterful treatise on the topic.

my husband got this book, but he loves it!

Brilliant book. Having taken up fly fishing 18 months ago I devoured many informational sources and this is the best of them. Already catching way more and larger fish. I will be reading and re reading this book for years to come I can see.

Excellent information covering a ton of ground. The insights on competition fly fishing are very helpful, too...

All sorts of useful stategies. On the first day fishing after read I caught 5 extra fish that I wouldn't have caught without reading this book, just applying the strategies from the book for changing the rig to suit the conditions and getting a better drift.

Tons of great information! Tactics, gear, and applications to a variety of waters are thoroughly explained and illustrated.

Well written, clear and highly useful

Great book as an introduction to Euro nymphing. Helped me iron out the basics. Highly recommend to anyone interested in expanding their technique repertoire, or gaining insight more insight into fly fishing

I really can’t believe how much I learned in this book! Worth the the read! I’m definitely a better fisherman because of it.

After recently moving to Utah and as a brand new fly angler, this book is invaluable in teaching myself this art form.

El mejor libro de pesca con mosca que he leído.

Great information thank you!

Great resource to add to your shelf.

Great book from a great fisherman. Read this, watch modern nymphing and you will catch more fish.

A treasure trove.

I watched Devin's video last spring about Euro nymphing, and was really able to up my game in this aspect of fly fishing. Devin's book gives you all you need to know about this topic and others. Perhaps the most helpful to me were the chapters on how to approach and read water (along tons of illustrative photos). There are specific chapters on pocket water, riffles, runs, pools, and glides. I also found the "recipes" and illustrations for making leaders for various fishing situations to be very helpful. The book is full of beautiful photos that not only educate but get you excited to try these techniques. Finally, it includes photos and info on tying proven fly patterns. This has become my favorite fly fishing book for its quality information and illustrations, and one that I'm sure I will reference many times during the fishing season. Highly recommended.

Read it cover to cover. Olsen's cerebral approach to "reading" the water (based on water temperature, water clarity, holding depth, species present, trout physiology, and other factors) has completely changed how I use actionable information to inform my first cast. His troubleshooting procedures also helped me make adjustments to eventually hook into a fish and when to move on to new water. I've become more successful on the water using what I'd learned reading this book.

This book delves into the finer points of euro fly fishing. I have been euro fishing for a number of years. But have learned a great deal from it. Worth every penny and then some.

Another year, yet another Euro nymphing book. This one tho is one of the better offerings. Having made the best dvd out there for 'Euro nymphing' with Lance Egan, this book is almost as good. Covering nymph setups, water types,flies etc it also looks at other methods such as streamers and dries. It's well set out and an easy read, has nice photograph's and lots of examples to reinforce what's being written. Euro nymphing has been done to death, with almost nothing left to discuss. This is in the top 3 books in my opinion covering the subject. Let's hope any future nymphing books have something new to say as the Euro nymphing sponge has been squeezed dry.

I rate this with the out of print “Presentation “ by Gary Borger as the best book on fly fishing I have ever bought...and I have about 50 books 50 years fishing ...sometimes 4 times a week and this book is superb on euro nymphing It is much more than that though and is a must for any enquiring angler who wants to learn

Great book for any one looking to get into tight line nymphing.

a really nice job, it does not leave out anything that is "modern" nymph fishing, it perfectly analyzes all the possible scenarios that you can meet in fishing or during a competition, I have been participating in competitions for many years, almost forty, now, given my age, I limit myself to a few races close to home, but I love to see how others interpret this wonderful fishing technique and I like to try new things, it is this that from a young age has stimulated me to flyfishing, everything changes, the materials of today they were unthinkable when I started twirling a flyline, everything changes and you never stop learning and, thanks also to books like this, you want to renew yourself and feel a little younger ... Thanks Devin for your book and scutemi all for my bad English :)

I have been fly fishing for more than a decade and I am fortunate to do most of my fishing in NZ. Amazingly all my faults and limitations as a fly fisher are highlighted in this book with great examples of how to overcome them. Of particular interest was the focus on Euro nymphing as well as finding fish in areas I would typically just walk right past. I am super excited to try all these new ideas and techniques next time I am on a river. I want to thank Devin for creating a fantastic resource that all fly fishers can learn from.

When it comes to fly fishing, Devin Olsen knows his stuff. Plenty of good information here, from gear selection to Euro-nymphing to fishing particular types of water to fly patterns. There is something in here for everyone. The down side- the quality of the print was rubbish. The publisher should be ashamed to charge what they do for this publication. As soon as I opened the book, the pages started to curl. The quality of the cover and the images also left a lot to be desired. Over the book was well written by Olsen but the print let the side down. Well at least with my copy.