Book for beginner fly tyers

All about flies Fly Tying
1

Not yet sure about the range of ages but the students will be over 15 years old.What one(1) book would you suggest and why?

Thanks.
Allan

2

while there are so many good books in the market, you really can’t beat youtube and dvd’s as instructional mediums. there is nothing like watching the actual ties. I’ve been tying for 30+ years and sometimes reading about tying a featured fly in the magazines sometimes creates interpretational problems for me. best wishes

3

I’d suggest Charlie Craven’s Basic Fly Tying
http://www.amazon.com/Charlie-Cravens-Basic-Fly-Tying-ebook/dp/B004GGTAV4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1384436708&sr=1-1&keywords=charlie+craven.

I think most of us have seen the tutorials at Charlie’s Flybox (http://www.charliesflyboxinc.com/) and this book is packed with the same kind of precise, detailed, and well illustrated instructions. There’s also a nice selection of effective, standard trout flies.

4

One of the first books I was given which I think is very good was Dick Stewart’s Universal Fly Tying Guide. It has 26 pages (8.5" x 11" pages) of basic how to and definitions and about 30 pages of standard fly patterns. It list for $15 but can be found from a little over $9 on line.

5

Production Flytying by A.K. Best - should be titled (Improve Your) Production Flytying. So much common sense info; took me from where I thought I was after 10 years of tying, brought me back to the beginning and got me on the right track. Broke me of a lot of my bad habits (many new ones have formed over the years; a quick re-read always helps to show me the errors of my ways). Proportion, thread tension, material handling, etc; the book may be 25 years old, but those ideas remain constants.
Read it, then pick up Charlie’s book; you will be well-served.

Regards,
Scott

6

Strongly second John Stoeckel’s recommendation, Charlie Craven’s Basic Fly Tying. A more simplified but valuable (to me when I started tying), is Basic Fly Tying by Jon Rounds. Also agree with youtube presentations.
Best of luck!
GGH:D

7

Charlie Craven’s book is good but it is almost a beginner-to-intermediate book really, and a bit more involved than what I consider a true beginner’s manual.

Best ones I’ve found to date include by order of preference are: Skip Morris’ Fly Tying Made Clear and Simple (a timeless classic), Peter Gathercole’s Fly Tying for Beginners (interesting because it has a more continental flavor), David Hughes’ Essential Trout Flies, Charlie Craven’s Basic Fly Tying (great book but expensive and a bit more advanced that the others), and Tom Rosenbauer’s The Orvis Fly-Tying Guide.

8

I would start by printing out the Fly tying 101 here on the board. that is by far the bet. then i would say fly tying made imple, the fly tyiers bible, the orvis fly tying guide, to start with.

9

I too would highly recommend Cravens book.
Beaver

10

Thanks everyone.

11

I agree with printing Fly Tying 101 from here but the book I would recommend is A Fly Tyer’s Guide To Fishing Flies. It starts off by explaining the tools, materials, and hooks. Then it explains each step used in tying from fixing the hook to the vice, through thread tying on and whip finishing, tails, wings, hackle, dubbing, and wings. Then it proceeds with simple flies using the steps learned with pictures for each step. There is a section on some of the knots used.

The last 5 chapters are recipes for flies, 30 dry, 30 wet, 18 salmon and sea trout flies, 18 lures, 21 nymphs and buzzers. The recipes are for the most commonly used flies and give a good head start on creating custom patterns.

12

Thanks. Any relation to ‘Riga’?

13

Lol, can’t answer that for fear of being banned.