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One
of the biggest questions I get during our Trout Unlimited Fly Tying Classes is,
“What books should I get?” Kind of a tough question, because at least 150
immediately come to mind. I’ve created the list below with the beginner in
mind – each section is arranged in terms of, “If I could only buy one book
this month, which one would it be?”
Note that many of these books
are fairly old, and some are classics. A lot of them can be purchased used. (They
don't have to be new to be great books.) I can recommend all the books below,
but I will admit that this doesn't represent a scientific sampling - just what I
have come across that I felt was worth buying. Also note that I have tied flies
using all of these books (and spilled head cement on most of them.) So
you may not agree with my comments, but at least they are all based on real
personal experience.
In
my view of the universe, there are three different types of fly tying books –
Pattern books, Technique books, and Theme books. I have separated the list below
to reflect this. Of course, life is seldom black and white, so some books belong
in two or more categories.
I have also included some Salmon
Fly books, which in most cases are a combination of all three types above.
You can borrow any of these books if you want (the locals,
anyway) or I can scan an inside page, cover notes, etc. if you need a closer
look. Just ask.
(I
have included the direct links to Amazon so that you can go directly to their
site to check the books out. If you order books after clicking through this site
it doesn’t cost you any more, but you generate a bit of income that helps me
host the site. How cool is that? )
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Technique Books |
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This is not only a very nice technique book, but it's also a bit of a milestone for me! While I've had lots of flies published in a variety of magazines, Tying Heritage Featherwing Streamers
is the first time I've ever been in a book. Staying objective, however, I have to say that I really like this book. Tons of good photos, lots of tips, and a few very interesting ideas - like disecting an original Carrie Stevens fly. I think this is destined to be a classic, and will sit on my shelf right next to Tying Classic Freshwater Streamers and Carrie Stevens. |
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Perhaps the best bang for your buck is the
Benchside Introduction to Fly Tying. This book is exactly half Pattern
book, and half Technique book - right across the middle. The top section
lets you page to a specific pattern, and the recipe contains cross
references for each technique, which you can then page to on the bottom
half. At first I was calling this a gimmick, but after using it myself I
think it's a great idea. |
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Next in line after the Benchside Introduction
is A.K. Best's Production Fly Tying.. This might seem to be too soon in
the list, but I'm of the same opinion as A.K. - we're all production
tyers, even if it's only a dozen BWO's for that trip tomorrow morning.
This book goes into great detail on each step of fly tying, and also has
chapters on how to work more efficiently. Not just the "how,"
but the "why" as well. A great book, and very readable. The
newer version is in color, and a bit more polished than the older
B&W version. (Pure Technique book.)
I took a two-day seminar with A.K. a few years back at Hunter's in
New Boston. He's a great guy. Very down to earth, extremely competent
tyer. It's a joy just to watch him use a bobbin.
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I don't actually own this one,
but so many of my students speak highly of The Fly Tying Bible
that I felt I had to
include it. This is actually half Technique, half Pattern book. It's a
British book, so the patterns are a bit different - and some a bit weird
to US tyers - but it gives you a good step-by-step of a good quantity of
useful patterns. Very good reviews by the people I know who have one.
Note that there are two versions, the ring bound and the spiral bound. More... |
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NEW!
OK, so I liked the book so much that I have to also recommend this one.
Same spiral design, same easy reading. But all about North Country
Spiders, or Soft Hackle Flies, or well - anything that looks like a
Partridge and Orange. I was able to get a copy from the author at the
British Fly Fair, but then was able to attend a demo one night in
Derbyshire. Mike Harding is quite a guy - musician, comedian, OK fly tyer - and a lot of fun.
(All right, as you might imagine, I can never get all that excited about
a fly that only has three materials. But my friend George tells me they
catch fish...) |
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The Fly Tyer's Benchside Reference (by the
same guys as the Benchside Introduction above) is an absolute Technique
book. It's more or less the gold standard in fly tying books. A bit pricey, but you're going to buy this sooner or later, so you
might as well get one now. It has every possible method for doing every
possible action on a fly, photographed in painstaking detail. Nice to
page through, but not just for reading. You will use this when you need
a bunch of parachutes, but haven't tied them in a while. This will give
the method you need. Or, you see some new and exciting fly, and you
can't figure out how they made the body. This book will tell you. A lot
of money, so maybe you save this one for your birthday...
For the beginner, it might be a bit intimidating as it lists every
possible way of doing every technique, without really rating them
against each other. That's up to the reader/tyer.
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I'm a great fan of any of Dick
Talleur's books. Dick is a meticulous fly tyer, and a great author and
teacher to boot. My favorite recommendation for beginners is Basic Fly
Tying, but it's hard to go wrong with any of his beginner books.
I've taken seminars with Dick as well. He's a very precise (but not a
production) tyer. |
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Theme Books
Most Theme books are a bit of history or fishing, a
bit of Technique, and a few patterns. Something for everyone. A few of
my favorites... |
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This is a refreshing book. The
author, John Barr, and the photographer, Charlie Craven, are both rabid
fishermen. So it's pretty clear what the focus of this book will be. I
tend to swing to the other side of the spectrum, and pay more attention
to tying than to fishing. These guys, although they are consummate fly
tyers, never lose sight of the fact that they're tying just to support
their fishing habit. More... |
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An
interesting book. Written by Al and Grechen Beatty, but a collection of
patterns by Gary Lafontaine during the last years of his life as they
were working on a video series. This became the source of this book.
Lots of good patterns and information, but be forewarned, this is not
Caddisflies. It was written by the Beattys, not by Gary. There is
a lot of anecdotal description, fishing stories, etc. and not the amount
of science you would get with a Lafontaine book.
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I'm rather fond of Rangeley
style streamers, and of course of Carrie Stevens. This is the
authoritative work on her life as a fly tyer. Good instruction on how
she did her "built wing" construction, and a definitive list
of recipes of all her patterns. Highly recommended. |
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Along the same lines, Dave
Klausmeyer has produced a great how-to on Freshwater Streamers. Lots of
Carrie's patterns, lots by current tyers, and great photography showing
the step-by-step method needed to tie presentation quality streamers. A
great book. Dave also has a couple of other good Theme books - Thunder
Creek Flies: Tying and Fishing the Classic Baitfish Imitations which
is actually a rewrite of an older Keith Fulsher book, as well as Guide
Flies: How to Tie and Fish the Killer Flies from America's Greatest
Guides and Fly Shops which is a compendium of modern guides' go-to
patterns.
Another just plain great guy, I got to know Dave during a class at
Hunter's as well as a three-day seminar in 2007 at Lakewood Camps in
Maine. |
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Darrel Martin is always a safe
bet when buying books. Micropatterns is my favorite. If you want a readable yet
detailed account of tying and fishing flies that are size 18 and
smaller, this is for you. He covers just about everything, including how
to build your own furled leaders. |
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The late Gary Lafontaine is a
great writer, tyer, and fisherman who brought a bit of science to the
study of macroinvertebrates and the fish that eat them. We have a lot of
caddis here in the northeast, and Caddisflies has explained a lot of their
behavior. His classic Sparkle Caddis Pupa and Emergers came from this
book. More... |
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Another tome that destined to
become a classic, The Dry Fly takes Lafontaine a fair amount into
uncharted territory. Mostly about fish behavior, he takes a hard look at
why fish do what they do, and comes up with some interesting flies to
solve some problems. Generalism, Empiricism, Naturalism, and
Theories of Attraction. Very readable, and much food for thought. It's
worth getting this just for the description of how he used to poach on
the private fishing reserve. |
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Dave Hughes is another great
author, and his Trout Flies - The Tier's Reference is bound to
become a classic along the lines of the Benchside Reference. Hundreds of
incredible close-ups, tying instruction, etc. |
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On First Blush,
how hard can it be to tie a few nymphs, and why would you need a book
about it? Good point. However, Nymph Fly Tying Techniques takes
you through some fine tuning on lots of techniques, and then references
back to them from the patterns in the back. Covers just about everything
nymph-like. A very good reference. |
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Pattern Books |
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Fly Patterns of the
Umpqua Feather Merchants is perhaps the most comprehensive
pattern-only book around today. It contains 1500 flies, basically the
catalog of Umpqua for their foreign-tied flies. Has a metal comb binding
to lay easily on the bench. Nine fly patterns per page.
It pops up on eBay, etc. for ridiculous prices - $200 - $250. I was
able to buy one a few months ago at the local used book store for
$30. |
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Trolling
Flies for Trout and Salmon is a neat book for those of us in New
England. It was a collection of all of the trolling streamers around at
the time, tied by a variety of tyers (including the Monadnock Region’s
own Ora Smith). The first third of the book is text, followed by
flies, 3 to a page. This came in a couple of versions. The first edition was
paperback, with a black cover. The second hardcover edition had a
greenish slipcover (pictured). Out of print, and prices range from $65
or so for the soft cover to over $100 for the hardcover. Yikes.
There
is an appendix with flies that never made it to the front of the book
– that is, recipes but no photos. The fine folks at Global Fly Fisher
have recognized this defect, and have tied up and photographed the flies
for all to see. A very nice piece of work, superbly tied flies, and a
nice honor for the original book. http://globalflyfisher.com/streamers/guest/stewart_leeman/
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Hard
to justify these other than from a warm-fuzzy aspect for some of us. Not
terribly good pictures, no modern materials, and the flies aren’t even
tied that well. Vintage
1978 but still, a good reference and historical work. There were two of
these, the brown Volume 1 and the Green Volume 2. They came in plastic
three-ring binders, with the pages printed on fairly heavy card stock.
Laid open on the bench well. You should get a set of these just to show
that you’re steeped in history and tradition. No longer in print,
sometimes come up on eBay. Probably $20 to $40 each.
The
book shown to the left is a combined version of the two older books,
metal comb binding, paperback. You can find it through Amazon, or often
on the shelf at book stores. I don't own the later version, but I do
have the Brown and Green books.
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Smelt Fly
Patterns is another good resource for us New Englanders. Just a
1/4" thick paperbound recipe book, but lots of nice photos (by Jim
Schollmeyer.) |
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Patent
Patterns is subtitled "1500 Unique and Innovative Fly
Patterns." This should provide a clue. It's a compendium of the
winners of Fly Fishing and Tying Journal's monthly contest. So it's not
the best Quill Gordon, or the most authentic, it's the - well, most
unique and innovative that came in that month. So, it might provide some
interesting minutes just paddling through it, or some inspiration if you
want to try something new - mainly with foam or synthetic winging - but
this won't provide a reference on standard patterns.
My advice - stick to the standard traditional patterns first, get
bored with those, and then get innovative on your own, based on what's
in your materials box. You don't need help (or permission) to ad lib in
fly tying.
(The title is a reference to the patent process that
lets an inventor disclose his invention, to spur on other innovation
(with some business protection in exchange. Something sadly lacking in
our current patent system, but that belongs on a different site...) |
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Flies for Trout is one
of a series of pattern books by Dick Stewart and Farrow Allen that
covered a bunch of different categories, called the Flies of North
America series. Flies for Steelhead, Flies for Atlantic Salmon, Flies
for Bass & Panfish, and Flies for Saltwater make up the
list. The Salmon editions are getting rare, and rather pricey. The Trout
version is fairly cheap.
Each page has five or six patterns with photos, recipe, and a short
paragraph of description. The Trout book is 124 pages long, and about
110 of those are pages as shown here.These
are good, solid reference books, with patterns shown in their
traditional forms. If you come across one of these and it's cheap
enough, pick it up. You'll eventually want the whole set. |
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I hesitate to even to go
down the entomology road. Some guys really beat this to death. I, on the
other hand, have a highly-tuned system of bug identification - Big Red
Ones, Little Yellow Ones, etc. This book is half bug ID book, and half
pattern book. (Although, the flies are recommended and shown for each
bug, but the fly pattern is not given.)
Anyway, this book is great for the beginning bug chaser/fly tyer. It
lists a bug on the left page, and three good imitations on the right
page. The bugs are recorded at various spots during its life cycle. I've
heard from some students in my fly tying class that carrying and using
this book has improved their fishing success considerably.
And I like it because it's fun to ID the bugs.
It's a small, pocket-sized book. |
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Salmon Fly Books
My first advice to anyone interested in classic
Atlantic Salmon fly tying is for them to turn and run in the opposite
direction, thereby saving themselves thousands of dollars and years of
their life. Most people don’t listen, so for those I’ve listed a
group of books that I find quite helpful. Again, I’ve listed these in
the order that a beginner might find them useful.
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What a great book. A bit of a misnomer, because Classic
Salmon Fly Materials is more of a Technique book than a
Materials book. Or maybe, "Materials and How to Use Them." The
best part of this is Mike Radencich’s absolutely stunning photography.
(I can’t ever look at this book without thinking back to my start in
fly tying with the black & white, hand drawn Herter’s manual, but
that’s a gray-beard story for another time.) This book is the poster
child for everything that’s right with fly tying print media today.
I am pretty sure that everything I learned in my
120 hour salmon fly apprenticeship program is in this book, in
painstaking detail. A couple of the techniques in here really clicked
with me, and were easily worth the cost of the book right off the bat
(his wing mounting and throat winding techniques, specifically.) I still
take the book down for review when I’m doing some onerous task –
mounting mallard roofs, for instance.
If you look at the Amazon reviews you will probably
see some negative comments relating to the pages in the rear of the book
that are reproductions of early color salmon plates. I have less of an
issue with this. Even though I seldom specifically use them, I enjoy
paging through them. The argument is that there should be more technique
on those pages instead of wasting it on old flies. I say there’s
plenty of technique in the book, and the flies are the frosting on the
cake. Buy this book.
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How
to Dress Salmon Flies is a book you really should buy someday, or at
least spend some time borrowing a copy from a friend. This was is one of
the classic early works, and is used as the main reference in these
parts. I used this book when learning from my mentor, and at a recent
class with Charlie Chute I noted that he uses this book as his
reference. There are still copies around, if you have a plump checkbook.
If I were just starting out I would likely start with some thing else
... More |
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This book is in second place
just because I use it all the time. Classic
Salmon Flies is basically a Classic Salmon Fly Pattern book. Each
fly has its own page, with a photograph, a recipe, a history, and a
discussion of other variations of the fly. Really invaluable for a
serious salmon fly tyer. No current patterns, just the Victorian
classics. Out of print for some time, but used copies are available. (I
recently got a paperback version for $20. Pictures not quite as sharp,
or rich, but very usable.) |
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Building Classic Salmon
Flies is by Ron Alcott, another classic New England tyer. A good
book, mine is the plastic spiral bound version that lays flat. Good
photos, but Rons's style is a bit on the "fishing" side of
things. That is, he's a bit more utilitarian than some of the other big
name tyers out there today. ...
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Fishing Atlantic Salmon, The
Flies and the Patterns ranks as another "must have" for
the salmon fly tyer. This book is almost a spiritual concurrence of
several factors. Written primarily by the late Joeseph Bates, Jr. who,
in my estimation, is a great, readable author - you won't be
disappointed by any of his books. The book was unfinished when Bates
died, and it sat for years before his daughter, Pamela Bates Richards
finished the manuscript. She also pulled in the stunning photography of
Michael Radencich (see above) as well as delightful sketches by John
Swan.
To top it off, I was able to obtain the late Warren Duncan's copy of the book,
presented to him and signed by Ms. Bates and Bob Warren, the editor.
More... |
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In Pretty and Practical
Salmon Flies, Dick Talleur takes the same technique he's used
to get thousands of people tying flies with his beginner books, and
translates it for the salmon fly tyer. In other words, he discusses the
absolute essentials for tying solid flies for fishing, and does it in a
clear, straightforward manner. If you plan on tying flies to put in your
box for that trip to Canada, I would start out with this book. More... |
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