Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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!

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.

An excellent advantage to all tiers, advanced or beginners. Hundreds of dry fly, nymph, wet fly, and streamer patterns that can get you on your way to success. All of them categorized and easy to find, with fishing tips for every kind of fly. I have used several other tying books to aid me in getting the patterns I needed, including Skip Morris', Fly Tying Made Clear and Simple, The Art of Tying the Nymph,The Art of Tying the Dry Fly, and much more. No one book can compare to this. A MUST HAVE to any person interested in becoming one of the greats of fly fishing!!!

Like other reviewers before me, I've found this to be a very useful reference. It's got a good selection and cross section of the different types of trout flies, many of which are also very good for warm water species such as panfish. The fishing notes section is very useful in telling how this type fly should be fished and under what conditions. One feature that I really like and that I did not notice that anyone else mentioned is the Useful Variations section. The book will give detailed explanation of how to tie and what is needed for a particular fly (example Royal Wulff) under a section (example Wulffs) and then give the recipes (the "how to" will be the same) for a number of other flies of that same type.

Best book I've found on fly-tying, period. The commentary on how to present various types of flies is very helpful for everyone from beginners to advanced anglers.

This is a great book for beginning tiers. I have just gotten into tying during the past few months, so I've been on the lookout for any good sources to learn the art. I've checked out literally dozens of books from the library that all purport to be the greatest fly-tying references around, but this is the one that I find myself referring to most frequently.

The basic format for the bulk of the book is a left-hand page showing a particular fly (e.g. The Royal Wulff), along with detailed instructions on how to tie it, and a little more on the fly and its variants. The facing page contains the "recipes" for 6 variants on the same theme (e.g. Grizzly Wulff, Ausable Wulff, etc.). Additionally, the right-hand page contains a short blurb on fishing that particular fly "series." He also lists the primary sizes in which each of the flies is tied, and highlights the sizes he recommends in particular. Also, flip to the back of the book, to the Conclusions section, first, because he provides a list of the flies (and sizes) that should always be in your basic box. I spent lots of time going through, series by series, making my own list of flies I want to tie to get ready for next spring, and then flipped to the back, only to find a list there that was almost identical to mine!

This book is enough to enable you to tie just about every fly you might need. If there are individual flies not contained in the book, you can probably figure out how to tie them just by reviewing Hughes' notes on a related "series." If not, there's always the internet...

There is some information in the front of the book on materials, methods, etc., but you are probably better off getting that information elsewhere (I'd recommend "The Fly Tier's Benchside Reference," by Ted Leeson and Jim Schollmeyer, since it has nice big pictures and step-by-step instructions for all of the basic techniques). The Leeson and Schollmeyer book would make a good companion to this one. The only critique I have for Hughes' book is related to format--it would be nice if the book were spiral-bound, so it would lay flat on the tying desk--but it's not a huge problem.

If you are just getting started, I would highly recommend Hughes' book. It's the only one I own, and the only one I feel like I need. The content is great, and I really enjoy his writing style, which manages to be informative without being boring.

I have only been tying flies for 3 years and I use this book like a bible. It is well written and takes a lot of the guesswork out of tying new patterns. Like others have said, the variations section is very valuable and the added text tells you what insects the variations are matching. Also contains helpful tips on what types of water each style should be fished. If you are just getting in to tying and are feeling overwhelmed by the number of patterns out there, then BUY THIS BOOK. It's an awesome primer and I have caught and released numerous trout by tying the main patterns that Dave suggests. Also, the beginning of the book offers advice on tying materials and the basic stuff you should have. I highly recommend this book to the beginning tyer and also for those who are more experienced. Tight lines!

DAVE"S DONE IT AGAIN! THIS IS AGREAT REFERENCE FOR THE NOVICE OR INTERMEDIATE TYER. OVER 200 VARIATIONS ALL WITH EASY TO FOLLOW STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS. ALL THESE PATTERNS CAN BE TIED WITH MATERIALS THAT CAN ACTUALLY BE FOUND IN MOST TACKLE SHOPS THAT CATER TO OUR BELOVED SPORT. NO MORE SEARCHING FOR EXOTIC MATERIALS TO LASH TO A HOOK (CANCEL THAT ORDER FOR THE NOSE HAIR TAKEN FROM A NORTHERN YAK ) IF YOU ARE GOING TO BUY ONLY ONE BOOK IT SHOULD BE THIS ONE AND YOU DONT HAVE TO BREAK THE BANK TO OWN IT!

I don't tie my own flies , but was looking for a good visual reference of one fly from another. Dave's book not only breaks down visually the different types of flies but gives input and usage for each type. This is one of my regular go to books.

John A Kinsfather JAK