Shared Waters

Shared Waters profiles California's iconic trout fisheries, pairing each destination with proven fly-fishing strategies, tactics, and techniques.

Author Mike Malekos has made it his mission to take a notoriously individualized sport and transform it into a community of shared knowledge. He influences countless fly fishers through his articles and presentations and is considered by many fly-fishing clubs to be one of California’s most knowledgeable and published anglers.

In Shared Waters, Malekos draws on more than fifty years spent fishing California’s iconic rivers, streams, and stillwaters—from Hat Creek, the Fall River, and the McCloud to Medicine Lake, Pyramid Lake, and the Trinity, and Klamath rivers. Blending practical fly-fishing insight with evocative storytelling, history, and reflection, each chapter profiles a destination and explores not only tactics, strategies, and techniques on how to fish it, but why he approaches each water the way he does. Along the way, he reveals the rhythms of trout, the subtleties of seasonal water, and the quiet lessons learned one cast at a time.

Whether you are a seasoned fly angler, a conservation-minded outdoorsman, or a reader drawn to thoughtful writing, Shared Waters offers both inspiration and insight—deepening understanding for experienced anglers while shortening the learning curve for those new to fly fishing.

A longtime contributor to California Fly Fisher magazine and founder of the nonprofit Casting A Rise Foundation, Malekos donates all author royalties from this book to California Trout, supporting healthy rivers and cold-water fisheries throughout the Golden State.