Sybil Smith arrived in the Twin Cities in the mid-1970s, and to her delight the fishing enthusiast found hundreds of places to cast a line.
There were so many lakes that "I didn't know where to start," Smith said. "I thought, 'I'll go find out.' "
Smith spent a few years in the offices of the Department of Natural Resources, poring over their files and talking with experts about the importance of using food, security and comfort when picking a fishing spot.
She turned her findings into the "Twin Cities Fishing Guide, Where the Experts Fish and How," a publication that has sold more than 150,000 copies and is now in its fourth revision. The book is the basis for a presentation she will give Tuesday at the Stafford Library in Woodbury and May 24 at Century College in White Bear Lake.
"I thought, 'If I have questions, everybody else does, too,' " said Smith, of Roseville. "They [the DNR] taught me a lot about fish biology, and that goes a long way to when, where and how to catch fish."
Her initial guide, which includes write-ups on more than 100 lakes in the seven-county metro area and Chisago County, was met by a few furrowed eyebrows when it debuted in 1993. Many found it strange that a woman would write a book about fishing, said Smith, who recalled a bit of resistance she got when trying to place an advertisement in a Twin Cities newspaper by phone.
"The woman said she had to see the book first," Smith said. "I thought, 'Did she think I was producing porn?' After she saw the book, she apologized and said, 'We don't see many women writing fishing books.' "
Smith lists everything from where to find public access, good fishing docks and piers, to which side of a lake to try to find specific species and when.
