Fly Fishing Books For Xmas

[polegrl]

It's that time of the year and I'm thinking of getting my fly fishing friends a book on fly fishing.

 

Any recommendations? One friend is quite experienced - ties her own flies, has fished around the province, etc, etc. The other one (and myself) just stand around trying to look like we know what we're doing.

 

Thx!

[ladystrange]

anything in particular?

 

how tos on tying, how to read streams, basics of casting, spey stuff? i have a shelf full of stuff, more like back seat of my truck full of books. but with so many to chose from, give me some ideas and i can narrow it down.

[ladystrange]

here is the thread.

 

http://flyfishcalgary.com/board/index.php?...ic=1923&hl=

 

if alberta's trout highway isnt on the list somewhere, it should be.

 

there is also a number of excellent tying books listed in the fly tying forum

[bulltrout]

frank amato publications (fly fishing & tying journal) have quite a selection to choose from...if you're interested, check out the site...www.amatobooks.com

[SanJuanWorm]

I'll sell you my brand new still in the sleeve "Forgotten Flies" book for a cool 1000 bucks.

[polegrl]

Thanks Ladystrange for pointing me in the direction of the last thread basically on the same topic.

 

I found myself in Chapters tonight reading Fly Fishing for Dummies. GROAN (but it was interesting). My friend and I just started this year so anything on technique, how to read a stream, etc. for the true novice would be interesting. Although, just like so many things in life...experience comes with doing

 

As for my more "experienced" friend I'm thinking a book about fly fishing around the world.

 

Thanks for the offer on the Forgotten Flies book SJW but a $500 markup from the Rare & Unusual website sounds like you're banking the money towards another doo-dad for your bikes

[SanJuanWorm]

Theres a Forgotten Flies on ebay right now for 280.

[ladystrange]

the complete fly fisherman series is very good. everything from fly tying techinques to casting techniques, gear, rods, lines etc. i have 2 of them and they are the ones i started with.

 

i have 2 more in the truck that i read when i'm waiting. too cold right now but if i remember to bring them in tomorrow night, i will.

[nomad]

Every Alberta fly fisherperson has to read B. Mitchell's Alberta's Trout Highway. As for the 'round the world thing, last Christmas I bought my bro Fifty Places to Fly Fish Before You Die.

[grannyknot]

Trout Highway doesn't leave my truck during the summer, absolutely essential (though I'm sure most every Albertan flyfisher has a copy). I picked up the Fly Tying Bible yesterday, I'm just starting to tie and I think it will be helpful. The fly shops will all probably have a better selection than Chapters does.

[admin]

Get a subscription to a few magazines. I usually get a few every year, the gift that keeps giving. Fly Fusion, Fly Tyer, Trout Fisherman and Fly Fisherman are my favourites.

 

Forgotten Flies is a killer book to have. I'm looking for it's big brothers, Rare and Unusual Fly Tying Materials Vol 1 and 2, but at over 500 a piece, it ain't gonna happen soon.

 

The flies of Alberta book would be good for the fly tyer on your list as well.

[rusty]

You can't miss with "What Fly Do I Use" by Darren Banasch.

 

Darren runs Hook and Hackle and ran Russell's for a while. This is a small, easy to read book that gets right to the point. It's easily the best value you could possibly find in a flyfishing book - and it's very locally oriented.

[polegrl]

Great suggestions! Thanks to all - I'll definitely check them out!

[SanJuanWorm]

http://www.amazon.com/Rare-unusual-fly-tyi...s/dp/1886961018

 

wow a bargain at 1700 bucks. I shall never own one.

[alhuger]

I'll depart from the 'how to' book suggestions and suggest you take a shot at anything written by Roderick Haig-Brown. He is IMO the finest writer to cover fly fishing and his experiences and the way he shares them in his books are beautiful. It helps that he was Canadian and much of the water we writes about you can still (and many do) fish today.

 

-al

[bloom]

Another Haig Brown fan here. It's a different, older style of writing...not so much the 'how to' or 'destination' writing you see today.

 

You can even make a trip to Campbell River to do some salmon fishing and see his house on the river (tours are cool too)

[headscan]

Along the same lines as Haig-Brown, though a little more modern is John Gierach. You can probably find a copy of Trout Bum at any fly fishing shop in the city.

[EdB]

Every Alberta fly fisherperson has to read B. Mitchell's Alberta's Trout Highway. As for the 'round the world thing, last Christmas I bought my bro Fifty Places to Fly Fish Before You Die.

 

does anyone know if you can get this book at Chapters or do you have to go to a fly shop?

[grannyknot]

I'm pretty sure I saw Fifty Places... at Chapters. Trout Highway you'll have to go to a tackle shop. It went out of print this year, but most places still have some copies. (Fingers crossed for a new revision soon!)

[NormanMcLean]

I just picked up a hard to find title. "Due North of Montana" by Chris Dawson. It's a book written for American flyrodders as a guide to Alberta waters. It's pretty redudant to the Albertan, but does have good information on locations and hatches on some of my favorite waters. A pleasure to read.

[Harps]

Norman McLean... reminds me of acceptable fly fishing writing...

 

Also

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Presentation-by-Gary-Bo...VQQcmdZViewItem

There's this one... actually a very good book (you can find the non-limited edition books).

 

His son also has an excellent text on casting:

http://www.jasonborger.com/writingvideo.html

Its technical, but the definitive book on all sorts of casting!

The Borger Family was instrumental in making "A River Runs through It".

 

I also like reading Flyfishing the 41st

More about his travels than fly fishing... but he has some good trout books.

 

There are also books like "Salmon Fishing in Yemen" and Cod: the fish that changed the world... (or something like that), interesting reads for folks interested in fish.

 

The above recommendations are great too.

It all depends on whether info books or recreation books are wanted.

 

Cheers,

[Inconnu]

I think all of these are great suggestions, I grew up fishing some of the waters Haig-Brown wrote of and fished on. I also have his season books in one edition titled "Seasons of the Fisherman."

I would also recommend "Caddisflies" by Gary Lafontaine. The one thing I picked up from reading several of his books, was to think out of the box and Caddisflies is also the definitive work on the insect.

Either way thoug, you will have some good reading with any of the books suggested here.