Full Disclosure: All of the books reviewed here are published by Geared Up, the same company that brings you this web site. So yeah, we might be a bit biased and you should feel free to take these in with a grain of salt. But we stand behind all of our titles - they are serious how-to/where-to fishing books, written by professional anglers. They're chock-full of hard-core fishing info, diagrams, and tactics, NOT "me and Joe went fishing" stories. If you want entertainment, get Hemmingway. If you want real fishing information, get Geared Up.
Falvey's Guide
NY Anglers: Get Ready For Falvey’s Guide
Anglers in and around the Long Island area, get ready for the most comprehensive, in-depth book to ever discuss species-specific techniques, rigging, and hotspots for sound, bay, and coastal waters—Falvey’s Guide to Fishing long Island! In it, author Kevin Falvey details fishing in Long Island’s waters with a species-by-species approach, covering winter and summer flounder, striped bass, bluefish, weakfish, blackfish, black sea bass, porgy, and other species, on case-by-case. Each chapter is capped off with custom-marked charts that show anglers the hotspots where they’ll find fish within shooting distance of Long Island. The book also includes a comprehensive knot-tying guide with custom illustrations.
But Falvey goes even further: he ties the “why” to the “how” for anglers—not only will he tell you where and when to hook into a cow striper, he’ll also tell you why the fish will bite in that specific spot at that specific stage of the tide on that specific lure. Once an angler understands why a fish will bite, he can predict where and when others will, gaining the ability to apply their knowledge to fisheries in other places, at other times.
Kevin Falvey grew up fishing Long Island’s waters from Throg’s Neck to Montauk, and currently lives in East Quogue. He is a long-time contributor to The Fisherman magazine and is senior technical editor at BOATING magazine. Falvey packs generations of fishing experience into this book’s 232 pages, and with 130 illustrations and pictures, makes that know-how easy to understand.
Price: $19.99
The Highs: Full of how-to/where-to information for fishing in and around Long Island.
The Lows: If you live in Florida, it won’t do you much good.
Who Wants It: Anglers who fish Long Island Sound and the surrounding waters of the Atlantic.
You want to know how the bluewater pros rig their trolling baits? How they set their spreads? How they rig ballyhoo—in one way for traditional marlin trolling, in another for high-speed trolling, and in another for circle hook tournament fishing? Author and professional charter boat mate John Unkart has boiled down his 40-plus years of offshore experience into a the book Offshore Pursuit.
The best part about it? Unkart uses nearly 100 illustrations, photos, and diagrams to make rigs, tactics, and techniques easy to understand at a glance. The book leaves no stone unturned, and addresses each specific pelagic species one at a time so the best ways to fish for each are perfectly clear. All the sportfish you might encounter when fishing the deep, from marlin to mako shark to mahi-mahi, are covered in detail. Surprisingly, he gives away the secret tips and tricks he’s learned over the years as a professional charter boat mate—info that full-time fishermen usually guard with a vengeance.
Unkart covers a wide variety of tactics and tackle basics, as well as looking at each specific pelagic gamefish species in turn. Several methods of trolling (both traditional and non-traditional), chunking and chumming, kite and downrigger use, and planers are all described and detailed in both illustrations and the text. You want to learn more about offshore fishing? Offshore Pursuit is like having a one-on-one conversation with a pro.
Price: $19.99
The Highs: Gobs and gobs of hard-core offshore fishing info.
The Lows: It’ll feed your offshore addiction.
Who Wants It: Offshore anglers who want to learn the tricks the pros use.
There are few good flounder fishing how-to books out there, and this is one of the best. If you want to know how the pros go after flatfish, it’s the book you’re looking for. Author Keith Kaufman was editor of The Fisherman magazine for over a decade, and is now a field editor for The Fisherman and Chesapeake Angler magazine. And, this guy knows fish. Tackle, tactics, and techniques are detailed in this one-of-a-kind how-to fishing book, which examines how, when and where you can boost your catch rate.
My favorite part of the book? Dozens of illustrations and photos simplify everything from rigging to reading the water. Drift fishing, trolling, jigging, and several lesser-known techniques are examined in detail. How and when to choose one type of bait over another, the most effective lures in each given fishing situation, and how to identify top-producing flounder spots are just a few more of the topics of discussion in the 256 pages of Flounder Fishing Tactics and Techniques. Added Bonus: the final chapter details top fluke hotspots up and down the Atlantic coast, from New York to North Carolina, on marked charts.
Price: $19.95
The Highs: The best flounder how-to book around.
The Lows: At 256 pages, it’s pretty thick and will take a while to get through!
Treasure for Trailerboaters and Traveling Anglers: Rudow’s Guide to Fishing the Mid-Atlantic
Okay, here I go again reviewing my own stuff—yep, this is a book review written by the book’s author. So, I know you’ll take what I have to say with a grain of salt. And just in case you’re still not sure you should believe what I have to say, I encourage you to go to Geared Up's web site, http://www.geareduppublications.com. Sections of this book are posted there, free for your enjoyment, so you can get a real sampling of what’s between the covers.
This comprehensive how-to/where-to fishing guide covers coastal bays, inlets, and ocean waters with 38 marked charts including over 300 hotspots in the first section of the book. Coastal bays, inlets, and offshore waters are all addressed. You’re going to fish for stripers in the Shinnecock inlet? Run from Hatteras to get in on the hot tuna bite? Either way Rudow’s Guide has you covered, and hotspots in the ocean also include GPS coordinates. The entire Mid-Atlantic region is examined in detail, from New York to North Carolina, so trailer-boaters or traveling anglers will get a heads-up on the good locations to try regardless of what port they head for.
The second section of Rudow’s Guide to Fishing the Mid Atlantic focuses on specific species and how to catch them, covering everything from trout to tuna. And the third section of the book focuses in on rigging, tackle and tactics, and describes both common and advanced angling techniques. Whether you want to try drifting the bay for flounder, wreck fishing for sea bass, or trolling for marlin, Rudow’s Guide will point the way. And remember my personal guarantee: “If this book doesn’t help you catch more fish, I’ll eat my bait.” (Note: I like to bait up with soft crab and shrimp a lot of the time.)
Price: $19.95
The Highs: Perfect for the traveling angler.
The Lows: The author stinks like bunker chum.
Who Wants It: Trailer boaters and guys who like to make road trips to Mid-Atlantic fishing destinations.
Are you ready to do battle with some of the fastest, strongest, most amazing creatures on the planet? Then you need to read Modern Sharking!
Author/Capt. Mark Sampson has been standing watch over chum slicks, chasing IGFA world records, and guiding thousands of parties to unique shark encounters for over three decades. Now he shares the knowledge and understanding he’s gained, in his new book Modern Sharking. Chumming techniques, locating, rigging, fighting, and landing sharks are just a few of the topics of discussion in this 256 page book. With 164 illustrations Sampson shows you how, where, and when to catch 20 different species of sharks, and there are even chapters on shark recipes and how to mount their jaws.
Learning more about fishing is always a good thing and Modern Sharking taught me plenty, but one of my favorite things about this book is that it’s also about sustainable shark fishing, with sections dedicated to understanding which species are appropriate for harvest, and how to release sharks unharmed. If you respect these magnificent animals and want to learn how to engage in direct combat them, then Modern Sharking is for you.
Price: $19.95
The Highs: I learned a heckova lot about how, where, and when to target species like mako, threshers, and spinner sharks.
Rudow’s Guide to Rockfish is the latest how-to fishing book by well-known fishing guru Lenny Rudow—and in the interest of full disclosure, pleas note that Lenny Rudow would be me. Yep, I’m reviewing my own book, which may seem a bit cheesy but I do know it better than anyone else. Besides, I’ve gotten excellent feedback from my readers on this one. Why? Because this book really is full of hard-core fishing information including tactics, tackle, baits, tidal influences, seasonality, water quality, and literally hundreds of other factors that affect the bite—all are covered in explicit detail. The book digs deep into the behavior patterns of stripers, including their biology and how, why, where, and when it causes them to feed. The connections are drawn between rockfish’s mannerisms and preferences and how you can apply that knowledge to tactics, tackle, and techniques—so that you’ll understand which works best, when, where, and why. Trolling, chumming, light-tackle casting, fly fishing, and jigging are all explained in detail.
Each fishing situation an angler is likely to face is picked apart, with illustrations, diagrams, and pictures that will make it clear how to most effectively attack any particular type of hotspot. I also included several “trade secret” methods for catching stripers when the usual tactics don’t seem to work, and many of the rigs and tactics included in this book have never before been seen in print! There are 208 pages and over 60 illustrations, including patterns for making planer boards and spread diagrams for trolling. No matter where or how an angler likes to fish, if you read Rudow’s Guide to Rockfish you’ll catch more stripers—period. My personal guarantee: If this book doesn’t help you catch more fish, I’ll eat my bait.
Price: $19.95
The Highs: Comprehensive, complete info on how to fish for stripers.
The Lows: You have to read???
Who Wants It: Anyone interested in catching more striped bass.
