Essential Trout Flies: Step-by-step tying instructions for 31 indispensable pattern styles and their most useful variations [Paperback]

Dave Hughes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2000

"Essential Trout Flies will help you assemble, in just two fly boxes, the flies you need to catch trout anywhere. That makes it essential reading in my book." --Rich Ostoff, professional fly tier and author of Fly-Fishing the Rocky Mountain Back-Country

How to tie the 31 most effective trout patterns and selected variations-more than 200 recipes in all

A core list of flies that will catch trout anywhere, in every season, this collection includes the most important patterns in a wide range of styles, from dry flies to streamers. The tying steps for each pattern are illustrated in step-by-step photos with detailed captions, followed by photos and recipes for the six most useful variations-217 patterns in all. Each chapter features a description of the insect the pattern imitates as well as expert information on how and when to fish the fly.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If fly-fishing were run like baseball, at the entrance to every river, stream, lake, and pond you'd find a vendor with a stack of Essential Trout Flies shouting, "You can't tell the flies without a scorecard." Since it's not, you'll just have to pick up a copy before your next outing on the water. Given that even seasoned sophisticates have trouble telling their pale morning sparkle duns from their cream sparkle duns without some reference, Essential Trout Flies is as essential as its title promises--both for fishing and for tying.

The author of numerous books on angling tactics and equipment, Dave Hughes has assembled a color-filled collection of what he calls the 31 pattern styles and the most useful variations that no fly-fanatic can do without. After a general section on fly-tying materials and techniques, he considers the flies themselves, separating them into three chapters: dries, nymphs, and wet flies and streamers. Then the fun starts. For each of his 31 basic patterns, he provides a history of the pattern and an entomological introduction, a photo of the fly followed by detailed instructions--via continuous text and an accompanying series of color photos--for tying it, pictures of six useful variations, and some notes on the best strategies for fishing them--e.g., when should you use a stimulator, a hopper, or a wulff?

For an experienced tyer, this is a terrifically handy and easy-to-use reference; with variations, the 31 patterns multiply to more than 200 proven trout flies. If you just like to fish, Essential Trout Flies is just as handy. It will help you identify flies, understand their entomological basis, sort them into easy-to-recognize categories, and select what you need to carry on-stream at different times of the year. Unfortunately, actually finding the fish is something you'll still have to do yourself. --Jeff Silverman

About the Author

Dave Hughes is a highly respected fly-fishing writer with over two dozen books in print. He writes regularly for the popular fishing magazines and currently is a columnist for fly rod & Reel. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Stackpole Books (January 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811727483
• ISBN-13: 978-0811727488
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #100,841 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #68 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Hunting & Fishing > Fishing

More About the Author

Dave Hughes is author of more than 20 books about fly fishing. They include the classic Western Hatches with Rick Hafele, American Fly Tying Manual, Handbook of Hatches, Reading Trout Water, Dry Fly Fishing, Nymph Fishing, and the massive referenceTrout Flies. His latest book, published in 2009, is Nymphs for Streams and Stillwaters. His next book is Pocketguide to Western Hatches, due out in fall of 2011.

Dave was founding president of Oregon Trout in 1983, and was awarded life membership in the Federation of Flyfishers in 1985. He was awarded the Pete Hidy honorary life membership in the Flyfishers Club of Oregon in 1992 for his literary accomplishments. Dave received the prestigious Letcher Lambuth Angler Craftsman Award in 2008 from the Washington Fly Fishing Club. He is also a life member of his home club, the Rainland Flycasters in Astoria, Oregon.

Born in Astoria, Oregon on the 4th of July, 1945, Dave worked his way through college at jobs specializing in the Three Ds--Dirty, Difficult, and Dangerous: mink ranches, tuna canneries, and shrimp boats. He graduated from the University of Oregon in 1967, from Army Infantry Officer Candidate School in 1968. Dave served one-and-a-half years in Viet Nam, 6 months as a communications site commander in the Mekong Delta, and one year as liaison officer to the Commanding General of communications in the Southeast Asia theater.

Dave is an accomplished amateur aquatic entomologist. His hobbies include collecting, identifying, and photographing the aquatic insects that are fed upon by trout, as well as tying and fishing the flies that match those insects and fool those trout. His articles on fly fishing have appeared in Field & Stream, Gray's Sporting Journal, Outdoor Life, Sports Afield, Fly Fisherman magazine, American Angler, and Fly Tyer. Dave served as editor of Flyfishing & Tying Journal for eight years, and is currently Elements of Success columnist for Fly Rod & Reel, essayist for Northwest, Southwest, and Eastern Flyfishing, and Minor Notes columnist for Flyfishing & Tying Journal.

Dave lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife, Japanese fly fishing writer Masako Tani, and their daughter Kosumo.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Adds clarity and purpose, July 13, 2000

By 

James Stripes - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essential Trout Flies: Step-by-step tying instructions for 31 indispensable pattern styles and their most useful variations (Paperback)

This book has excellent instructions on fly tying, a selection of terrific patterns, and advice on how to fish the flies. All this is to be expected from a basic book on fly tying. But, this book is more useful than many others because author Dave Hughes organizes the patterns by styles and offers a primer for creating two basic fly boxes (one for dries, and one for wets, streamers, nymphs) that should catch trout anywhere in the world. The beginner can learn the basics of tying and fishing with this book. Intermediate fly fishers can strengthen the organization and foundation of their knowledge. And, although I don't consider myself an expert, I would imagine when I reach that stage, I'll still find myself referring to this book from time to time.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great reference for beginning tyers!, February 17, 2000

By 

Eric T. Skinner (Concord, North Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essential Trout Flies: Step-by-step tying instructions for 31 indispensable pattern styles and their most useful variations (Paperback)

I'm an intermediate-level fly fisherman and fly tyer. As anyone who's gotten started in this wonderful sport can attest, knowing what to fish or tye can be very, very confusing. Mr. Hughes's wonderful book helps to take a lot of the guesswork out of this. He proposes a theory which states that if you can tye a representative of a style of fly, you can tye any fly in that style. For instance, if you can tye an Adams dry fly, you can tye any of the Catskill-style dries. He then suggests specific flies and sizes to tye for each style. This book does this for dries, nymphs, wet flies and streamers. Following his theory, you can have a box of dry flies and a box of wet flies to match whatever you come up against. I'm taking Dave's advice and am in the process of filling my fly boxes as he suggests. I can't wait for spring!

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Handy Guide, August 22, 2000

By 

Glen Spackman (Wellington, New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essential Trout Flies: Step-by-step tying instructions for 31 indispensable pattern styles and their most useful variations (Paperback)

A nicely structured book which makes it easy to get around. Each "style" of Nymph, Dry or Wet fly has a featured pattern with some background and comments on materials, plus crisp colour tying shots & the recipes for 6 variants of the style. In addition there are Fishing Notes for each style of fly and I found these particularly helpful. I also liked Daves ability to convey concepts. For instance, in describing nymphing a river, he suggests thinking of it in terms of " ... using the nymph to paint parallel brush strokes on the bottom of the river." Altogether, a highly recommended book for a fly tyers reference library.