So I just finished going through Al Campbell's Beginners Lessons and Skip Morris Fly Tying Made Clear and Simple and I think I am doing pretty well.
What should be my next book?
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So I just finished going through Al Campbell's Beginners Lessons and Skip Morris Fly Tying Made Clear and Simple and I think I am doing pretty well.
What should be my next book?
What about Al's Intermediate Lessons?
Otherwise, I think Jack Dennis' Western Trout Fly Tying Manuals I & II are pretty good. Also, Richard Talleur's Mastering the Art of Fly Tying and The Versatile Fly Tyer have lots of good information. Others, if you can find them, are Art Flick's Master Fly Tying Guide and Randall Kaufmann's Tying Dry Flies and Tying Nymphs.
Have you checked the local libraries?
Try this list
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/tyingchat/books.html
Ladyfisher and castwell's pics, so you know there accurate :wink:
Don't worry about what others tell you, or what someone placed on a "list."
It all depends on YOUR interest.... trout nymphs, drys, midges, or streamers; warmwater poppers, hairbugs, streamers, nymphs, or classic; saltwater - inshore or deepwater; salmon flies; spey flies; Alaska; or etc.
What do you want/like? What "floats your boat?"
Think about that and then research the books and find what makes YOU happy!
We need to know your biggest weakness or what you want to learn more about before we can give a proper suggestion.
Joe
It depends on which side of the Divide you are on.
:idea:I have come to see that size 10 forms a natural divide between trout flies and so called "Warm Water" flies. With the exception of streamers, trout flies run toward 12 and smaller while WW flies run 8 and up. 10 is the tweener. There may be another diivde between Fresh and Salt around 2/0.
:roll: As most Midwesterners I think of the West Coast as another world and, perhaps unfairly, categorize its fish as I do its human population. Both fall outside of my schema.
:arrow: That being said, my first statement should make sense. I will not speak to the trout fly issue. For trout George Leonard Herter's manual was the only reference I used for a long time. If you are on the WW side of the divide, I have to say that I am just getting into Bob Clousers new (2006) book and can easily recommend it for both photography and text based on my first scan.
Bear742, the only reason that I don't use midges for sunfish more often is that they tend to take them too deeply for me to extract cleanly, even with forcepts.
Rawfish,
I would argue that after mastering the basics, most subsequent tying books are just pattern collections more than anything else. This is not a bad thing because you develop your skills by selecting new and more challenging patterns. There are only a few books that I've encountered that really delve into more intermediate/advanced topics, and those are fairly specialized titles. Of the books Nick's page cites, Stewart and Allen's Flies for Trout is one of my favorite pattern books and if you are looking for new techniques and a bit more challenge, Oliver Edwards' Flytyers Masterclass will introduce you to a bunch of new materials and interesting techniques. Edwards' book is out of print but there are copies still floating around.
Of course you can best hone your skills by tying more flies...lots of them. It didn't really start making sense for me until after the first couple of hundred. YMMV.
As I have said you cannot go wrong with AK--I have learned a lot from AK's Fly Box and Production Tying.
Good instruction in basics and LOTS of time tying has served me well. Above all else, enjoy your time at the vise and then on the water
As mentioned, get Production Fly Tying by A.K. Best. Might as well learn from someone who cranks out thousands of perfect flies every year. Flytyers Benchside Reference is a great book too. Although list price is kind of steep, you can find it for 1/2 price if you do a little digging
Regards,
Scott
Give "Essential Trout Flies", by Dave Hughes a look. I find the book very usefull - it has instructions and pictures on how to tie 31 different patterns, and also provides recipes for several variations of those patterns.
Gordon
For whatever reason then you probably use sizes 10 or larger for most of your WW fishing. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by EdD
I don't think I have an argument with that.
It all depends on how your interests develop.
For some good books on fly tying have a look at
Dave Hughes' collection. I can especially recommend his wet flies book, admittedly a big interest of my own.
If you want to get into traditional style softhackles (spiders),they are not difficult to tie and will catch a lot of fish.
I can recommend a book by Roger Fogg called
'A Handbook of North Country Trout Flies' it is on sale at http://www.Amazon.co.uk for a very reasonable price of ?9.50 BP, you'll have to do your own conversion into dollars. This is a great book for traditional British flies, a huge number of recipes, and advice on feathers, tying tips, and history. It is not a coffee table book with gorgeous colour pictures etc., just chock a block with really good information.
He wrote another book called 'The Art of the Wet Fly'
which was better produced with nice illustrations but I think 'The Handbook' is a much more useful book and a lot cheaper, I just checked and the asking price for 'The Art of the Wet Fly' is between ?100 and ?346.38, and that is in Pounds Sterling.
Note- This book is on http://www.Amazon.co.uk -
not on Amazon.com
Hmmm, don't guess I do either. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Bear742
Point well taken. :)
Ed
The Flytier's Benchside Reference. This hefty tome gets a special place in my tying library.
No patterns or recipes, just 100's of detailed tying techniques. I have had my copy for over 5 years, and I am still reaching for it on a regular basis. Add the Umpqua pattern book and I think you could tie anything.
It's a large pricey book, lot's of color photographs I paid arounf $100 for my copy. I have heard of internet deals as low as $60.