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 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.

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.