Marc Fryt- The Guide to Urban Fly Fishing

“Marc Fryt’s The Guide to Urban Fly Fishing is an important and inspiring read. It brilliantly connects city dwellers with the vital waters in their own backyards, sparking a powerful appreciation and a fierce commitment to clean water advocacy. The book underscores the importance of protecting these vital resources by beautifully illustrating how engaging with our local waters, even in urban settings, can make us happier, healthier, and more at peace. It’s a practical blueprint for anyone looking to discover, enjoy, and care for the healthy waters that every community deserves. Marc’s book has also really helped me level up my skills.”—Marc Yaggi, Chief Executive Officer, Waterkeeper Alliance

The Guide to Urban Fly Fishing: How to Explore and Enjoy Your Local Waters is a one-of-a-kind guide that reveals the accessibility, affordability, community, and unique adventures that urban waters offer.

While city dwellers often turn to hiking, biking, or simply enjoying a local park as healthy pastimes that don’t come with high costs or distant travel, one rewarding pursuit remains largely untapped in urban environments: fly fishing. For over a thousand years, fly fishing has been more than a method of harvesting food; it’s a source of immense joy, a pathway to understanding nature intimately, and a tradition that connects us to water and wildlife. But why should this enriching experience be confined to remote waters and rural landscapes? Why can’t we cast a line right in the heart of our cities?

This book shatters the stigmas and preconceptions—elitism, exclusivity, and notions of purity—that have kept fly fishing from thriving in urban settings, revealing how the sport is truly accessible to all. It introduces angling knowledge within the unique ecosystems that cities offer, ecosystems that have evolved dramatically over the past 150 years. More than just a how-to, The Guide to Urban Fly-Fishing provides the tools, resources, and diverse stories to help us discover the vibrant community and joy of urban fly fishing. It’s also about joining a broader ecological movement that’s redefining how we live, relate, and recreate in our cities.

This book answers both the why and how questions of urban fly fishing. Why fish in your city? Because of the accessibility, affordability, community, and unique adventures that urban waters offer. A fishing rod transforms city landscapes into engaging playgrounds, turning anglers from mere observers into active participants. Why fly fishing in particular? This method of fishing is highly versatile and effective for the diverse ecosystems found in urban areas. This book serves as the first comprehensive urban guide for those new to fly fishing in general, as well as for anglers who have yet to explore urban waters. It’s filled with practical insights, tips, and uplifting stories from experienced urban anglers from several cities, including Los Angeles, Denver, Minneapolis, Boston, New York City, and Columbus. It provides readers with the resources and inspiration to explore their city’s waters, overcome challenges, and discover personal rewards and a sense of community.

More praise for The Guide to Urban Fly Fishing:

“The Guide to Urban Fly Fishing is a powerful reminder that great fishing can be found right outside your back door. It offers a thoughtful blend of fishing fundamentals—covering gear, fish behavior, and reading water—while also diving deeper into the history of urban angling, local regulations, water quality, and the importance of community. I appreciate the clear layout, inclusive content, and its recognition of many wonderful fishing organizations. This guide truly reflects the accessibility, diversity, and connection that define what fly fishing should be.”—Heather Hodson, founder, iFishiBelong, United Women on the Fly, and Fly Fish Instruct

“In an era marked by a growing loneliness epidemic and a widening disconnect from the natural world, The Guide to Urban Fly Fishing offers a clear pathway back to nature and each other, right in our own backyards. It challenges the outdated notion that fly fishing requires remote mountain streams, expensive gear, or exclusivity, instead celebrating the accessibility and vibrancy of inner-city waters accompanied by a deep sense of community. Urban fly fishing offers tangible mental, emotional, physical, and social benefits close to home. This book is a refreshing reminder that fly fishing is not only for everyone, but for everywhere.”—Lindsay Kocka, Founder and Facilitator, Wade Well: Fly Fishing and Functional Mobility

Marc Fryt, a US Army veteran, discovered fly fishing as a way to decompress and explore mountain rivers and streams during his military service as a helicopter pilot and operations officer. After leaving the service and moving to Columbus, Ohio, he took up urban fly fishing with the encouragement of local anglers and mentors. He is now an urban fly-fishing guide in Spokane, Washington State’s second-largest city. He brings years of writing and photography experience, having been published in numerous fishing and hunting magazines such as The Drake, Flyfish Journal, Backcountry Journal, Fly Culture, Covers, Project Upland, Kayak Angler, and American Fly Fishing. He is skilled in researching complex, technical information and distilling abstract ideas into content that readers can easily understand. For this book, he has pulled together diverse voices among urban anglers from various cities, consulted experts in multiple fields, and conducted research into scientific studies and textbooks. He is passionate about helping readers learn the skills of urban fly fishing so they can experience the same joy.

*Feel free to call Village Books and Paper Dreams for further assistance at 360-671-2626!*

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