Customer Reviews

Fly Tying For Beginners: How to Tie 50 Failsafe Flies

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is an excellent book. It is for beginners and that is exactly what I am. The photographs are in bright full color and take you step by step through the tying of the fly. There are a lot of fly tying books out there and I have looked through dozens and dozens of them. Not one of them came close to being as good as this book.
The wire o' binding that lets the book lie flat is just an added bonus.

There are some truly great things to say about Mr. Gathercole's book, "Fly Tying for Beginners." First, it is laid out in a very sensible manner. Starting with tools and techniques up front, followed by a list of flies, all in awesome crystal-clear color photos. The book's size and wire wound binding makes it so easy to use on at the tying bench.

That said, as a novice to fly tying, I found myself going to other resources to research techniques such as tying hair wings. In addition, it would have been MORE helpful (for me) if some of the techniques I needed to use were found in the same pages as the fly I was tying at that time. One other point is that I found myself having to guess several times on tail lengths, hackle sizes,and occasionally material placement.

Overall, I'm very glad to have this book as a reference, but I'm also glad I have OTHER references to assist me with the gaps of information I found missing in this one.

The book is as user friendly as is possible. It's ringed binding allows it to lie flat on the table and the size of the book is just right, not too small nor too big. The diagrams are easy to follow and unique in their design. I like novel designs and compliment the author on his creativity. If I were to design a book, this would be it.

This is one of the best three fly tying books I've found for beginners. I can't say I've been tying flies for a long time - I'm clearly in the beginner category. However, I've been writing documentation for a living and teaching how to design instructional materials at a university so I tend to be picky about these kinds of "starting guides." This book has a great deal to recommend it for beginners.

The beginning portion of the book is devoted to a comprehensive section dealing with the basic fly tying skills and each of the individual fly "recipes" refers back to those relevant skills by page number. Pretty handy.

The photographs are clear, relevant and in color. You would think that color wouldn't make a difference but in fly tying it does. So much of the material is colored that selecting and using the right one is far easier when the images are in accurate color.

The step by step instructions are simple and concise. Boy, does that make a difference when you're looking back and forth between the book several times when you're first starting.

It uses a spiral wire binder which means it lays open to the page you're working on without your having to use soda and beer cans as paper weights. This is a bonus because none of the flies I've found so far recommend adding a sugar coating to the feathers.

Finally, the book not only includes a list of materials needed for each fly, making trips to the fly store for materials easier, but it also includes in the description the kind of fish that fly is good for. Again, this is a handy bonus for beginners. I want to tie flies I'll use for particular fish and tend to stay away from those that won't be useful to me.

My only disappointment is a minor one. It doesn't include instructions on using the Matarelli whip finisher but that's something I can live without.

All in all, a great book for those just starting out in fly tying.

Fly Tying for Beginners by Peter Gathercole is an excellent Fly tying book. I have been fly tying for about six months now and I have searched for the best Fly tying books around. As far as Fly tying books goes for a beginner, it probably doesn't go in detail far enough. But after your first couple of flies(Four or Five), this book would be excellent. To start off with this book covers a lot of flies, 50 in all. In addition it has a spiral binding, so you can open it up as you tie, which I feel is mandatory for a fly tying book. The description of each fly is four pages long, highlighting the most difficult parts. On the first two pages it gives a detailed picture of the fly as well as pictures of the material needed to make the fly; this is particularly helpful to a beginner. It also tells of the type of fish that this fly would presumably be used to catch. As far as the general info on the book it has the usual Pictures in the front of the book to show particular techniques as well as the basic tools and material used. One of my favorite parts of this book is on page 47. It has a fly selector with pictures of all 50 flies in the book which is very helpful, especially when you only have limited abilities and material. Over all this is one of the best books I have seen on fly tying so good in fact that I bought it for my own Reference.

I Manage a Fly Fishing retail outlet and would see most of the flytying books available.
Fly Tying For Beginners: How to Tie 50 Failsafe Flies would have to be the best I have seen by a mile. It starts with clear and simple explanations of all the gear names and recipes required to start tying. A great tool for the raw beginner and seasoned tyer both.
Great fly recipes top off a very valuable addition to the flytying creel. Its a must have, there is no doubt in my mind there is nothing like it on the market. The Fly Tying Bible[by the same author] also follows on from where Fly Tying For Beginners: How to Tie 50 Failsafe Flies this book brings the tyer's skills to a high level with clear and simple recipes and picture instructions.
The binder cover is the best idea since slice bread, its sits on the tying bench and can be easily referenced without closeing up or looseing your page.
To the Auther... Thanks for a chance to sell and use this great publication.
Trevor Martin
Pro-Angler Geelong
Victoria
Australia

We use this book when working with the Vets at the VA hospital here in Richmond,VA The program is Project Healing Waters. We work with recovering Vets from the war. The layout is outstanding and is ideal for new tiers who are in a wheelchair. One of the best features is the books lays flat . Each fly showes all the material exploded out by name. It's a great book for new tiers to use when the club members are not able to work with them.
Great book.

As the other reviewers of this book have noted, it has very good (not the best) step by step instructions; though a couple of the photos are out of sequence on two of them.
My frustration with this book is that EVERY FLY calls for a completely different set of materials. To assemble the materials to tie all of the flies in this book would cost hundreds of dollars! Still, I liked it enough to buy his second book in which he gets around to giving alternate materials and color patters. All in all a good book but it certainly shouldn't be your only book.

Congratulations for the excellent quality. This book is very clear. The photographs are perfect and great idea to begin the book with the explanation of the core techniques. Very good

GREAT BOOK FOR BEGINNER FLY TYERS. EVERY STEP IS WRITTEN OUT VERY CLEAR.