British Columbia has a long history of outstanding fly fishing and a long list of well known fly fishing practioners and writers who have extolled our provinces recreational virtues. But never before under one title has such a complete cross-section of B.C. fly fishing been presented as in Mark Pendlington's compilation in West Coast Fly Fisher.

Featuring the writings and photographs of such notable and distinguished B.C. fly fishers as Brian Chan, Art Lingren, Barry Thornton, Harry Penner and Kelly Davison, this book offers readers over 100 years of collective experience.

Each writer concentrates on their area of expertise beginning with Brian Chan and his chapter "Fishing the Pacific Northwest Lakes". Chan, a fisheries biologist and author with several books and videos to his credit, describes the physical nature of our lakes, their biology and the seasons they go through. He stresses the importance of observing insects and being familiar with their life cycles and how they play in the lifes of foraging trout. This is all carefully laid out as well as equipment and techniques used to master stillwater fly fishing.

Art Lingren has many years of active involvement with various conservation groups such as The Steelhead Society and The British Columbia Federation of Fly Fishers. Lingren has a number of B.C. fly fishing books to his credit including Fly Patterns of Roderick Haig-Brown and River Journal: Thompson River.

Lingren's contribution to the book describes fishing for the elusive and highly prized steelhead in his piece titled "Winter and Summer Steelhead". Steelhead are a remarkable species of sea going rainbow trout that spawn in freshwater coastal streams only to return to the vastness of the ocean for most of their adult lifes. Lingren entertains the reader with a steelhead story of his own from the fabled Dean river and then goes on to describe steelhead and the various flies, techniques and presentations used to entice these jewels of the fishery.

"Saltwater Fly Fishing For Salmon" is the chapter by Barry Thornton, one of the living legends who has done much to pioneer techniques used in this infant and still evolving fishery. Thornton has a background as a professional educator, writer and photographer with vast numbers of columns, articles and numerous books to his credit. Barry emphasises the necessity of hunting for salmon by learning to identify certain species of water birds, which in turn help locate schools of bait fish, and ultimately the presence of salmon.

Techniques of location, anchoring your boat according to wind and current conditions, equipment and presentation, are all discussed by this seasoned veteran. There is also a section on beach fishing, concentrating on a time when salmon return to coastal river estuaries and their home streams. Barry's writings and epoxy fly developments have opened the salt water fly fishing world to many.

"West Coast Salmon Rivers" is about a lot more than this chapter title would suggest. Not only are there five species of pacific salmon inhabiting our coastal streams, but all are quite different, sometimes varying greatly in size. All have their own particular cycle and time in the river requiring indepth knowledge to be pursued successfully.

Harry Penner has been fishing and guiding these coastal streams for years and it's his philosophy to keep technique easy and fly patterns to a minimum for simplicity sake. This is especially important for a professional who wants clients to succeed.

Penner writes articles, takes wonderful pictures- a lot of his images grace the pages of this book- and has been involved with an outdoor television series. One key to successful west coast salmon river fishing is to put your fly on top of the fish. Penner goes in to great detail describing different line setups that have worked for him in all sorts of favourable and adverse conditions over the years.

"The Sea-run Cutthroat Trout" as described to us by Kelly Davison is the underdog of the anadromous salmonoid world often eeking out it's existence next to more agressive and dominant species. Davison thrills and intrigues us with stories of persuing this quarry while nicely blending his tales with with a natural history lesson and a conservation message. One wonderful story from his youth describes his very first cutthroat encounter, hooked but sadly lost.

Davison has been guiding and teaching fly fishing most of his adult life. He is also involved with the Steelhead Society, British Columbia Federation of Fly Fishers and has been involved with the Sportfishing British Columbia television series.

West Coast Fly Fisher is a wonderful, informative book packed full of practical information, lavish photographs, diagrams and descriptions for tying 50 of the authors' favourite flys. Although all involved have covered their areas of expertise elsewhere in greater detail, this publication serves as an excellent overview of the B.C. fishery for novice and experienced angler alike.