The Guide To Urban Fly Fishing by Marc Fryt

Fishing guides need to be flexible, dynamic even, to keep clients on the fish. On sketchy days, they at least need to summon some magic for their sports. Writer, veteran, guide and angler Marc Fryt sees fishing opportunity all around our urban landscapes and with his new book, The Guide To Urban Fly Fishing, successfully erases some undeserved mystiques of being a fly angler and ideas that we must travel to deep woods or wide rivermouths to find fish and magic. Mr. Fryt proves fly fishing urban waters can be just as exciting and rewarding as wading a mountain stream for less money and time, while he reinforces respecting all our environments.

Rhode Island’s Woonasquatucket River. Todd Corayer photo

The two mystiques are handled easily. Chapter by chapter, his writing covers the basics of fly fishing and how to locate and explore urban fishing opportunities. Urban fishing means waters along busy arterial roads, at the toes of old and useless dams, adjacent to rock jettys and maybe even in a concrete entombed irrigation ditch. His tips are often reminders that some treasures come with a cost and I loved how he progressed from bullet points and strategy recommendations to concerns for supporting conservation. That’s no different than how we move from worms on a hook to keeping fish wet for pictures; it’s a crucial progression. Vermont creek or Chicago park, if we don’t protect both, we may soon have neither. Protecting some million dollar view, which may include a KEEP OUT sign, is no more important than saving a shaded tailwater downstream from a mothballed dam that once supported a crumbling textile mill. He offers paths to netting a city fish and calls to study physical structures, anthroprogenic creations impeding ancient fish passages, migratory routes or invertabrate safe havens. Economist Garret Hardin wrote, “There is no away to throw to.” Ultimately, he meant how we humans deal with waste but if you turn that inside out a bit, which is what the book asks you to do, you see not only where fish may live but where fish may no longer live because of us. That’s powerful, just like the messages Mr. Fryt delivers. The Guide To Urban Fly Fishing may just encourage you to call for a dam removal or installation of a fish passage around one. We do have that power.

Jennifer Hsia holds a smallmouth buffalo. Marc Fryt photo

Urban Fly Fishing Can Be Challenging and Rewarding

This is not meant to be a complicated book. Mr. Fryt provides clear instructions, recommendations and encouragements for anglers of all ages and skillsets that blend into a back pocket reference book. He writes from his heart; his years of fishing and guiding bridges any gap between casting a five weight or squinting at swirls in murky city park ponds. With an introduction by legendary fly angler, Tom Rosenbauer, The Urban Guide To Fly Fishing will open your eyes to a busy landscape of fishing options and species you might never have understood or pursued. Mr. Fryt teaches readers that by fly fishing in urban waters, we have alternatives, passages to recreation, fun and peace in big cities, atop culverts and along river directors and that fly rods, affordable or higher shelf, do not define or limit us. Fly rods are tools of the fishing trade, any apprehensions of casting one should carry no weight other than one printed on their spine. The lovely feel of a fish on a fly line transfers smoothly to our hands and fingers and we are lucky for those moments, even while people peer from passing busses and speeding taxis. Fly rods break down easily, making them perfect for carrying on a subway.

His book is all about having an artist’s eye to see what others may not and that fishing in plain sight of a sky scraper or bustling city park is all about managing your expectations. Wading beneath a grafitti covered bridge abutment is far from the beauty of a Maine stream with wild brook trout feeding under a fir overhang, but the chase’s are equal. There just may be fish in both places, catching one may be equally difficult. Mr. Fryt’s step by step coverage of urban waters relies heavily, as successful fishing does anywhere, on preparation. Weather, flow rates, water quality and open access are critical.

Casting A Fly Rod Opens All Sorts Of Possibilities

There are carp in Providence, Rhode Island’s Roger Williams Park. Seriously big carp. Where unmufflered cars speed past traffic cameras, people sit to read or secretly string out lunch breaks, some heavy fish cruise muddy sediment and occasionally fall for a single piece of maize carefully secured to a hair thin hook on moonless nights. There are striped bass lurking near the Providence Place Mall, where the pretty and lovingly restored Woonasquatucket River  (the Woonie to some) reaches the head of tide and bass are pleased to accept her bait fish and warm waters. Who has the ambition to cast beneath a noisy highway or swing a six weight off a bridge with the hopes of catching something, anything besides a tire? Anglers love the challenge of finding and maybe fooling a fish, of seeing a seam where it seems others wouldn’t look and with Mr. Fryt’s guidance, that includes looking for common space options.

High five under a city bridge. Marc Fryt photo

 Some anglers migrate to fly fishing for a different experience, where their hands and fingers are more closely interacting with fish on a line, as opposed to just turning a handle to fill a spool. Some anglers migrate to cities or dense urban areas for personal or professional reasons but need to maintain their connections to water and fish. Mr. Fryt’s book helps us move in both directions, celebrating the simple act of casting fly line under a bridge or from a gravel parking lot edge. Fishing isn’t always about gear, clothes and brands. That’s too easy and ignores the obvious magic around us. We are blessed to be surrounded by water in many places and perhaps they may not appear like a Montana creeek or a seafoam dusted Maine shoreline but the same wonder lies beneath. The Urban Guide To Fly Fishing will help you see what’s outside the screen door or a taxicab window. Personally, I think we all need an excuse to slow down and peer over a bridge. And maybe catch a buffalo with a fly rod.

The Guide to Urban Fly Fishing goes on sale April 28, 2026 and is published by Chelsea Green. Purchase your copy for $29.95 USD, $40.00 CAD, £22.95 GBP.