Wild Steelhead Volume 2: The Lure and Lore of a Pacific Northwest Icon

Many rich tales are told in an engaging conversational style by Sean M. Gallagher in an impressive new book. Wild Steelhead: The Lure and Lore of a Pacific Northwest Icon (Volume 2) is the latest in a series of distinctive titles on premium game fish such as tarpon, salmon, striped bass and muskie by the Northwest publisher Wild River Press. It is lavishly illustrated with more than 1,000 striking new color and vintage black-and-white photographs.

Like Wild River’s other titles, which have won a string of national awards for editorial and graphic excellence, Wild Steelhead is ambitious. This huge all-color book chronicles decades of the swashbuckling fishing adventures of the author and his friends, from wilderness rivers in Alaska and British Columbia (with more than a few harrowing bear encounters), to familiar home waters in California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.

Although not a how-to instructional guide, there is plenty of hard-won wisdom and advice here, both from Sean himself and from the baker’s dozen anglers he invites to share their memorable stories “around the campfire” about steelhead caught and steelhead lost. Collectively, these experienced anglers have waded Pacific Northwest rivers for nearly a millennium. Their stories weave a priceless tapestry of extraordinary sport and special places, some sadly lost.