Essential Trout Flies

Rating:
Summary: A Very Handy Guide
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: A Very Handy Guide
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Essential Trout Flies, by Dave Hughes
Review: 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!!!

Rating:
Summary: Best book on fly tying
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: ESSENTIAL TROUT FLIES
Review: 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!

Rating:
Summary: ESSENTIAL TROUT FLIES
Review: 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!

Rating:
Summary: A great reference for beginning tyers!
Review: 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!

Rating:
Summary: A well balanced book
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: A well balanced book
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Adds clarity and purpose
Review: 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.