The Local Angler is a series of guides written by fishing enthusiasts with years of experience fishing in the waters they know best—the ones within easy reach of home. Published by Imbrifex Books, each guidebook features more than two dozen wades, paddles, or floats described by expert anglers who share secrets and tips about their home regions. With a Local Angler guide, you can discover creeks, rivers, lakes, coastal inlets, and even deep sea fishing “holes,” all near major metro areas. This means you can enjoy a relaxing retreat to some of the best fishing spots in America, even if you have only a few hours to spare. Additional tips and info about local and natural history, brew pubs, fly fishing shops, bait and tackle shops, and nearby points of interest will make your fishing experience even more rewarding. While the authors of these books are “out there” right now researching and writing their books, they periodically post on the The Local Angler Facebook page, offering new insider tips and suggestions.
“The Local Angler Series of Guide Books: Fish like a local wherever you go!”
**May 15th: Aaron Reed presented tips for fly fishing in the Austin waters at the Austin Fly Fishers May meeting.
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Urban Fly Fishing Dallas–Fort Worth is now Available at your favorite fly shop or bookstore!
The urban creeks of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex are just around the corner, and full of fish.
Join long-time Dallas resident and dedicated fly angler Greg DeMars as he expertly guides you through the hidden world of urban creeks in the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States.
The Local Angler Urban Fly Fishing Dallas–Fort Worth has something for everyone: exciting adventures for anglers of all ages, abilities, and experience levels. With invaluable information for both fly and conventional anglers, this is your complete guide to finding and catching fish in the creeks of DFW. Discover wild, secluded spaces that you would swear are nowhere near a metro area of more than 7 million people…and accessing these natural gems from a dog park, or a paved trail, or a green space provided by the city (with free parking!) makes your adventure that much more convenient and inviting.
Only have an hour or two? A great fishing trip doesn’t have to be an all-day affair. There’s likely a beautiful, fish-filled stream with easy access within 10 or 15 minutes of your home or office. If you want to spend a little more time on the water, there are numerous wades and hikes of a mile or more that will keep you fishing all day.
What’s inside:
– More than 100 parking and access points on 17 streams and ponds
– How to read the water to catch more fish
– The most effective fly patterns, some with detailed tying instructions
– How to get in the middle of the springtime white bass run
– Geographically organized into five sections, each covering a different area of the Metroplex
– When and where to catch trout in north Texas
*****Follow Greg on Fly Fishing Dallas–Fort Worth, where he posts tips, techniques, and places to go fly fishing in the DFW area. New articles are posted periodically. Click here to read his latest.
Purchase Urban Fly Fishing Dallas-Fort Worth
*** April 19th: A very special event was held at the Living Waters Fly Shop in Round Rock, Texas. Greg DeMars and Aaron Reed shared their expertise, insider tips and signed books.
Signed copies of both books are available for sale at the fly shop. This is a wonderful fly shop and we appreciate the owner’s support for The Local Angler book series over the years.
Events where Greg DeMars was featured in his book tour for Urban Fly Fishing Dallas-Fort Worth:
** April 5th: Greg signed books and shared insider tips at the Taste of Chandlers in Rockwall, Texas.
** March 22nd: Greg signed books and shared insider tips at the Dirty Water Fly Company in Plano, Texas.
** March 15th: Greg welcomed and spoke with fifty or more anglers who attended the “official” book launch at Tailwaters Fly Shop in Dallas. The store sponsored a raffle winning tickets earning all sorts of very cool fly fishing gear and even some custom-tied flies from the author. Signed copies are also available at the store!
** March 8th: Greg was a featured fly fisherman at the Trinity FlyFest in Forth Worth at the River Park Trailhead. The weather was a bit tough for fishing, but Greg still signed 30 books at the event!
** March 4th: Greg also presented at the Ft. Worth Fly Fishers Members meeting, 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm at Beyer Hall at UNT.
** March 3rd, Greg presented at the Dallas Fly Fishers meeting, 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm at the First United Methodist Church in Richardson, TX.
** February 21st and 22nd, Greg was a featured author at the Troutfest Expo 2025 in New Brunsfels, Texas. Copies of his book are now available–before they can be purchased online at Living Waters Fly Fishing store in Round Rock and at the Tailwaters Fly Fishing shop in Dallas.
** February 20th, Greg was at the SITKA Gear Dallas Store for the TPWD program: “Ask a Game Warden” Meet-n-Greet.
** February 13, 2025 at the Sean Polk seminar on Sand Bass at Tailwaters Fly Fishing Store; 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm. Copies of Greg’s book are available for sale at Tailwaters Fly Shop at 1933 E. Levee Street, Dallas, TX 75207.
**Greg DeMars, author of Urban Fly Fishing Dallas–Fort Worth attended the annual authors event at The Blue Quill Angler fly shop in Evergreen Colorado on December 7, 2024. There are signed copies of Greg’s book at the store. The Blue Quill Angler is located at 1532 Bergen Pkwy, Evergreen, CO 80439
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Fly Fishing Houston & Southeastern Texas written by Robert McConnell IS NOW AVAILABLE in fly shops and bookstores.
***Autographed copies of Robert McConnell’s book, Fly Fishing Houston & Southeastern Texas are available at the Orvis Houston on located at 5727 Westheimer Road in Houston, TX 77057. And at Gordy and Sons Outfitters located at 22 Waugh Drive Houston, Texas 77007.
Silver Medalist, Outdoor Adventure Guides, 2023 National Outdoor Book Award (NOBA)
Silver Medalist in the 2024 Benjamin Franklin Awards (IBPA)
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The second book in The Local Angler book series is written by Robert H. McConnell. Robert was born and raised in Western Pennsylvania. It was in the shadow of the Allegheny Mountains where he developed an affinity for fishing and the outdoors. At college, Robert pursued a degree in geology, which was one of the only classes that offered frequent field trips to the great outdoors. After graduating, Robert began a career in the oil and gas industry, which brought him to the wilds of northern Pennsylvania. He began fly fishing in earnest after discovering the joys of hiking into remote freestone streams in pursuit of native brook trout. He now calls Houston, Texas home which is one of the largest cities in the United States. Within the metropolitan area of the “Bayou City,” and beyond, there exists unique waterways worthy of fly fishing. The fly angler has ample opportunities to explore and fish in streams that lie outside the realm of the stereotypical fly fishing experience.
* 38 detailed on-the-water descriptions of “wades” located on 12 unique streams and waterways
* Descriptions of access points for paddles in local lakes
* Suggestions for creating personalized fly boxes for southeastern Texas.
* More than 300 color photographs, including close-ups of the key sport fish available
* QR codes supplying GPS coordinates for all of the wade locations
* Suggestions for the best gear to get started fly fishing
* Local angler-friendly breweries and fly shops
* Background about local historical events
* Insider tips for sneaking up on fish
Follow Robert here on Fly Fishing Houston, where he posts tips, techniques, and places to go fly fishing in the Houston area. New articles are posted on the second day of each month.
Purchase Fly Fishing Houston and Southeastern Texas
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Other books in the series are currently being considered. Would you like to join the other expert anglers and write a book for this series? Contact us!
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The first book in this series is written by Aaron Reed, a Texas native who has fished in the waters surrounding Austin for more than twenty years. An advocate for maintaining public access to all navigable Texas streams and waterways, Aaron is well-versed in the history, geology, and angler culture of the Texas Hill Country. In addition to detailed and easy-to-follow narrative describing each wade, he provides advice for selecting equipment and flies for specific conditions and species. Aaron also shares his expertise in “reading” streams and how to identify the common aquatic and riparian plants anglers will encounter when fishing this area. True to the Local Angler concept, all the wades in Fly Fishing Austin & Central Texas are easily accessible from the metro area and require only a few hours to enjoy. This means that with Aaron as your guide, you can go fishing before work or after school on just about any day of the year!
Follow Aaron here on Fly Fishing Austin, where he posts tips, techniques, and places to go fly fishing in the Austin area. New articles are posted on the first of each month. Unless he’s fishing and then it might be sometime later in the month…
Purchase Fly Fishing Austin & Central Texas
FLY FISHING AUSTIN LAUNCH CELEBRATIONS!
The ultimate “Go fishing now!” guide to angling in central Texas. Discover 49 routes on 19 streams, all within an hour of downtown Austin. The Local Angler: Fly Fishing Austin and Central Texas is now available wherever fine books are sold.
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Aaron Reed on his book tour in Central Texas in 2021
On Sunday, June 13, 2021
The Lark & Owl Bookstore in Georgetown, Texas hosted Aaron Reed for their very first live, in-person author event since the early 2020. The event was limited to 25 attendees and every seat was taken. “Thank you so much for the opportunity to present and sign at Lark & Owl. It was great fun, and I was honored to be part of the first post-pandemic in-person event,” — Aaron Reed.
Here are some photos from this wonderful occasion:
Signed copies of Aaron’s award winning book are on-hand at the Lark and Owl Booksellers and the owner can arrange for additional personalizations by Aaron.
Signed copies of Aaron’s book will be available for purchase at Living Waters Fly Fishing in Round Rock and online!
Signed copies are also available at ReelFly in Canyonlake!
And there are a few signed copies at Mesquite Creek Outfitters in downtown Georgetown.
…Check back here for scheduled author events/signings/speaking engagements, or for new information about special fishing events, or Texas River Law updates.