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  Bud Lilly’s Guide to Fly Fishing the New West It’s summer and if you haven’t got at least some time booked to fish in the North American West, you aren’t living right.
Drawing on a lifetime of observations, the authors provide guidance on the techniques to use in big rivers, small streams, spring creeks and high-country lakes. In other words, on all the water worth fishing. You will learn how the seasonal changes affect the fishing, and what flies to use. You’ll learn how to find fish in waters you are experiencing for the first time. How to fish, whether you’re wading or drifting, and how to hook up with a good guide. (Montana has some of the best guides in the world, but there are also some bad ones. You want to avoid the latter, and get the most out of the former.) Mr. Lilly and Mr. Schullery have teamed up on books before. They produced Bud Lilly’s Guide to Western Fly Fishing in 1986 and A Trout’s Best Friend in 1987. Both books were well received, but both are now out of print. Mr. Lilly explains that as he and Mr. Schullery discussed those books, they agreed there were some things in them they liked, and some things they didn’t. Like good fly fishermen, they wanted to build on their experience - to do a better job of it. “Most of all, we talked about how much we would like to take all that information, add a lot more, and produce one big book that did the whole job - telling my story, sharing all the advice on Western fishing, and preaching a few sermons on conservation and good sportsmanship,” writes Mr. Lilly in the prologue. “After ten years of thinking about it, taking the occasional fishing trip to do ‘field research’ and accumulating new ideas, this book is the result. Rather than just a guidebook or an autobiography, it blends the stories with the lessons, which makes the learning more fun and the stories a little more meaningful.” Bud Lilly is legendary in Montana, and it’s fitting that the book opens with a few chapters on fly fishing in the state - and on his family roots. It’s interesting reading, but the book really takes flight in Section Two, when Mr. Lilly, who guided for 50 years, starts discussing tackle and techniques and Section Three, where specific types of water are discussed. This is where you study with the master. The book has good color plates on Mr. Lilly’s selection of a general assortment of fly patterns. “If you live in the West, this selection will handle practically all of your fishing needs,” he writes. “If you are planning a visit, it will serve as a guide to give you an idea of what to expect, but you may not need to have them all, depending on your visit. If you visit in October, for example, you won’t need to bother with the salmonfly dry-fly patterns, and if you visit in May you won’t need the hoppers.” Practical, solid advice, based on a lifetime of learning. What more could you ask for from a book? If you’re heading for Montana sometime, get a copy of Bud Lilly’s Guide to Fly Fishing the New West. It will start you in the right direction. After that, as Mr. Lilly would no doubt acknowledge, it’s up to you and the trout.
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Bud Lilly is a fourth-generation Montanan - apparently because his family just couldn't conceive of any better place to live. If you’ve fished in that great state, you’ll understand. If you haven’t, it’s time you did. And Bud Lilly’s Guide to Fly Fishing the New West is a great book to get you started.
