Pacific Coast Flies & Fly Fishing

The last time I fished for steelhead with Scott Sadil, he was supposed to be ensconced at an artists’ retreat, but instead he drove up the coast to meet me on a river for a few days. He wasn’t playing hooky; he’d announced to his fellow inmates that while they were navel-gazing in their secluded cabins, he’d be off researching a story. I always wondered what those artistic types thought of a writer with an actual job to do. I’ve fished with Scott enough to know him to be a good fisherman. And I’ve read his work, so I also know him to be the kind of honest writer who’ll say he aspires to be the kind of cagey angler who fishes with nothing but an Adams and a Hare’s Ear, only to admit, a paragraph or two later, that the boxes and boxes of flies he does carry amount to “a redundancy of insecurities:” a statement that rings true for any fisherman and cuts neatly through the endless theoretical blather about flies. Which is to say, there are lots of fly pattern books, but this is one of the good ones. -- John Gierach I’ve fished with Scott, seen his passion for the places, for the casting, for the fish. I’ve admired Scott’s understanding of the flies, his wonderful work at the vise. Perhaps most important, I’ve read him for many years, been envious of his way with words. I’m always amazed. -- Dave Hughes, author of Wet Flies Sadil deftly performs a high-wire act, admitting right off that successful fly fishing owes less to the specific fly than to how you fish that fly, and then he fills a book with fresh insights into fly-fishing and -tying that even the most jaded graybeard will treasure. -- James R. Babb, editor emeritus, Gray's Sporting Journal, and author of Fish Won't Let Me Sleep Combine decades of experience on the water with a talent for observation, an abiding curiosity, and a streak of skepticism, and you have Scott Sadil. He seeks flies that will attract hits, and whether the patterns are spanking new or centuries old, he lets you know why they work, particularly for Pacific Coast fisheries. His is good, thoughtful advice. -- Richard Anderson, California Fly Fisher magazine