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The Guide to Urban Fly Fishing: How to Explore and Enjoy Your Local Waters
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 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.
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 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.
256 pages, Paperback
Published April 28, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 30, 2026
Don't do what I just did: pick up this book and read it cover to cover. It's not that kind of book. After a while, it'll start getting dry. Your best bet is to browse it from time to time. But this isn't a review, this is just a suggestion.
How about a review?
A few months ago, I started making trips to Columbus, Ohio for work and I noticed the Olentangy River, thinking that this would be a great place to fish, to paddle, to just have fun. Part of my work brought me to Mad River Outfitters, a fly-fishing store in Columbus, where I met some really enthusiastic and knowledgeable people who love fly fishing in Ohio (I'm a recent transplant from Maine, a BIG fly fishing area), and so I started searching the net for more information about the Olentangy…which led me to Marc Fryt's really terrific blog where he details all sorts of adventures on the Olentangy, the river I was most interested in at that time.
Oh, and by the way, he had a book due out in a couple of months. Hello, Amazon…pre-order!
Like I said, this isn't a very good book to just read through. There's just too much information in it about fly fishing, about urban waterways, about finding and using data to boost your adventure, and ways to network with other fishermen and people who support conservation of aquatic environments. I KNOW this is a book that I will be referring back to again and again in the coming years.
I think that the other thing that I found useful about this book is that there's something for everyone who is interested in fishing urban waterways (even if you don't fly fish). There are tons of tips and ideas for absolute beginners to fly fishing, and yet there are advanced concepts and source materials that are helpful for advanced anglers. Myself? I'm somewhere in between, thinking that carp really is a worthy species to fish. That the urban environment consists of both reefs full of plentiful fish as well as dead zones that anglers should learn to spot and avoid.
I hope that Marc finds success in this book and continues writing!
How about a review?
A few months ago, I started making trips to Columbus, Ohio for work and I noticed the Olentangy River, thinking that this would be a great place to fish, to paddle, to just have fun. Part of my work brought me to Mad River Outfitters, a fly-fishing store in Columbus, where I met some really enthusiastic and knowledgeable people who love fly fishing in Ohio (I'm a recent transplant from Maine, a BIG fly fishing area), and so I started searching the net for more information about the Olentangy…which led me to Marc Fryt's really terrific blog where he details all sorts of adventures on the Olentangy, the river I was most interested in at that time.
Oh, and by the way, he had a book due out in a couple of months. Hello, Amazon…pre-order!
Like I said, this isn't a very good book to just read through. There's just too much information in it about fly fishing, about urban waterways, about finding and using data to boost your adventure, and ways to network with other fishermen and people who support conservation of aquatic environments. I KNOW this is a book that I will be referring back to again and again in the coming years.
I think that the other thing that I found useful about this book is that there's something for everyone who is interested in fishing urban waterways (even if you don't fly fish). There are tons of tips and ideas for absolute beginners to fly fishing, and yet there are advanced concepts and source materials that are helpful for advanced anglers. Myself? I'm somewhere in between, thinking that carp really is a worthy species to fish. That the urban environment consists of both reefs full of plentiful fish as well as dead zones that anglers should learn to spot and avoid.
I hope that Marc finds success in this book and continues writing!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews