A fishing literature classic gets an impressive update

Even though I will spend an inordinate amount of time searching for smallmouth bass, I refuse to apologize for being what some would call a "trout bum."

As the years have progressed, I have found myself increasingly taken by trout fishing with a fly rod. For me, wading a stream or river and casting bug-like creatures adorned with feathers and a hook are as good as it gets.

That brings me to a new book I just finished perusing.

Gerth E. Hendrickson and noted outdoors writer Jim DuFresne put together a revised version of the popular piece entitled "Twelve Classic Trout Streams in Michigan" (The University of Michigan Press).

Here is a tome crafted by two dedicated fly fishermen who always seem to know a good thing when they see and experience it.

The book first came out in 1985, and DuFresne was asked to update it since the passing of Hendrickson.

Michigan is an angler's treasure trove for many different species, including the various strains of trout. Its crystalline streams hold some hefty monsters that battled fly anglers to exhausting finishes. The book contains valuable information about such famous streams and rivers such as the Au Sable, Manistee, Pigeon, Sturgeon, the Black, Pine, and the famous Boardman, among many others.

When I first learned the basics of trout fishing, I was content to use a nightcrawler on a No. 10 or No. 12 hook with a piece of split shot affixed a few inches up from the hook. It was in Elkhart, Ind., where I learned that I could safely release the fish I caught if I used a fly. And my real stream education came from an older chap, George Roberts, who was a master fly tier. He took me to a Michigan stream for an evening of casting and fishing. He explained that we would experience a hatch of Hex mayflies skating on the surface. He told me to watch the surface in the fading light for rising fish.

Big brown trout "slurped" the emerging mayflies like diners lined up at Old Country Buffet. His artificial creations managed to bring about a half dozen good strikes and decent fish to our nets.

But the bug hatch never lasts very long. Hex flies, shorthand for Hexagenia Limbata mayflies, can be found on many northern streams and appear to drive both brown and rainbow trout crazy.

Paul Melchior, a friend and master fly fisherman, lives for the moments at night in Waushara County, Wis., when he's night fishing the Hex hatch for cruising browns. My old friend George was obsessed with these hatches because, as he claimed, "only the bold and dedicated angler would venture out at night when this hatch is in full bloom, simply to witness a pure act of nature and terrific fishing."

Anyway, on many of the streams and rivers mentioned in the book, one could experience outstanding fishing using traditional methods. Of course there are similar conditions in central and northern Wisconsin as well as Minnesota.

One must not overlook that the excellent stream conditions are the result of a cooperative, teamwork effort by Trout Unlimited and the various fisheries agencies in those states.

One other note. The Twelve Classic Trout Streams book has GPS coordinates listed for each of the streams mentioned, as well as pictures of the fly patterns that have tempted fish to the hook.