Best Beginner Fly Tying Book

[sulfernut 0]

Books are terrific,and I have my share...BUT... If I were you,I'd check out some videos!! I have been tying for close to 40 years...About 7 years ago,I found a fly shop in my area,that had an extensive library of videos that they would rent out. Naturally,I sampled them all!! I've got to tell you,I learned more watching a two hour video than I had in YEARS of trying to learn from books!!!! It was truly remarkable!! I had always had trouble with upright-divided hair wings....watched Jack Dennis's video on tying western patterns,went into my tying room,and turned out a dozen Humpy's and Wulffs,that were "proffesional grade"!! As good as books are,and there are many good ones out there,NOTHING can beat actually watching an acomplished tyer DO his thing,up close!

[DrLogik 0]

Tying American Trout Lures by Reuben Cross. Yes it was written a LONG time ago but Cross is arguably one of the finest fly tyers that ever lived. He trained the Darbee's, Dette's, etc. The book is short, simple and easy to understand. Heck, I was 12 years old when I read that book and got started. It covers the essentials well. Randall Kaufman's books are also very good.

[djbvt 0]

"The Art of Fly Tying" by Jon Van Vliet (sp?) is a very good book with good photos good basics and not a bad little catalogue of flys

 

"Universal Fly Tying Guide" by Dick Stewart - a great, inexpensive (though out of print - look for it on Amazon or abebooks.com) comprehensive guide for a beginer.

 

Randall Kaufmans' books "Tying Dry Flys" and Tying Nymphs belong in everyone's library - beginner to advanced tyer

 

Again, an out of print title well worth looking for is Dick Stewart and Farrow Allen's "Flies for Trout". While not a "how to" book, it is a great reference containing 540 flys in color photos and their patterns (available on AMason

 

 

"The Benchside Introduction to Fly Tying" (Spiral-bound) by Ted Leeson, Jim Schollmeyer - although a little on the expensive side ($45 list, $31.50 on Amazon) this is by far the best beginer's book I have found. The new style of cut pages showing each technique (as shown in their Benchside Reference) is revolutionary and works... Take a look at it and I hope you will feel the same.

 

Dana

[Hollywood 0]

Hi,

 

I'm a newbie and I did a little search for the most popular books from this topic. All of them look great but I think I'll give a pass on the Randall Kaufmann books. Amazon.ca shows most of them (used and new) staring at $107.00.

 

Yep, that decimal is in the right place. They go up to over $200.00 per book. :hyst:

 

Wow, two books or a pair of Simms G3 waders, what should I choose?

 

I think I'll stick with this forum and some of the great stuff here for now.

[smokinprice 0]

Books are terrific,and I have my share...BUT... If I were you,I'd check out some videos!! I have been tying for close to 40 years...About 7 years ago,I found a fly shop in my area,that had an extensive library of videos that they would rent out. Naturally,I sampled them all!! I've got to tell you,I learned more watching a two hour video than I had in YEARS of trying to learn from books!!!! It was truly remarkable!! I had always had trouble with upright-divided hair wings....watched Jack Dennis's video on tying western patterns,went into my tying room,and turned out a dozen Humpy's and Wulffs,that were "proffesional grade"!! As good as books are,and there are many good ones out there,NOTHING can beat actually watching an acomplished tyer DO his thing,up close!

 

I would most certainly agree with this. I have my share of books as well but recently I have been getting the DVDs such as Hooked on Fly Tying and have found them to be worth their weight in gold. Truly good stuff.

[InkomFly 0]

I agree with McManus. I'm just getting started here in Idaho and my guy sold me this book. I also have a book by Jim Schollmeyer called "Hatch Guide For Western Streams". I do see that the same book is published for "Eastern Streams" as well. Hope this helps. The "guide" will fit in yur' pocket too. BP

[CapeBSalar 0]

Hey everybody, just rereading some of these posts and I wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who posted, this is a great reference thread for the beginner forum, thank you for your contributions to it.

 

Best,

 

Damian

[tryingtoflyms 0]

I've been reading through all the post, but I'm still undecided on a book.

 

I saw some people thought the FAOL guide should be a book, so I put the beginners section in a pdf for everyone.

 

http://onemississipp.googlepages.com/flyan..._beginners_.pdf

 

*right click_save target as*

 

Thanks

[Dan-Versacorp 0]

The Benchside Introduction To Fly Tying by Ted Leeson and Jim Schollmeyer.

 

 

[darkknight 0]

I would have to agree with several of the options that have already been stated but I have really enjoyed "The Benchside Introduction To Fly Tying" by Ted Leeson and Jim Schollmeyer the most out of all that I have read. I like the presentation of the split pages that give you a break down of each individual step by referencing each stage of the process. It also provides, most if not all of the popular fly patterns needed to catch fish. All in all it is first pick for a beginner.

 

I hope this helps.

Thanks,

Terry

[Just Tie 0]

Peter Gathercoles fly tying bible; it has got me through so many problems and the Fly tyers Benchside reference; expensive, yes but well worth it you can get them on amazon fairly cheap.

Happy tying,

Jason.

[Hot Tuna 0]

I just found out last week that Eric Leiser's Complete Book of Fly Tying is coming out again in softcover.

This should be a reasonably priced book and Eric's writing is excellent. I forgot how good the book was until I recently consulted it for the Wulff swap. The book also has an added Chapter on the Angus fly which was afforded special treatment by the Catskill Fly Fishing Museum. I'm also keeping a promise to Eric to put the word out for him on the reprint.

Promise fulfilled........

[stony 0]

If you get the benchside reference, don't get the CD. It absolutely sucks. Well not really, but I would rather look at pages.

[kbris 0]

I just started tying a few months ago myself. What I've discovered is that there is a plethora of information available on this noble art. The internet is loaded with forums, books, videos, fly fishing and tying websites and a lot of different sources on tools and materials. My favorite source so far is Peter Gathercole's "Beginning Fly tying" from Barron's books. It is a quarto spiral bound book that fits nicely on the bench and is wonderfully presented with step by step color photos with explanations. Peter gives a series of core techniques followed by instructions on how to tie 50 different flies. My 2nd favorite book is Gary Soucie's "Wooly Wisdom". It is an awesome illustrated tome that covers every imaginable woolly worm and woolly bugger in exquisite color and tying recipe detail. A very instructional and entertaining read. For great beginner's videos, check out the free Al Beatty instructional videos on this forum. Also check out this wonderful free public tv series http://www.kwsu.org/Offers/OMNFlyTying.aspx featuring LeRoy Hyatt a great Idaho tier, demonstrating how to tie a lot of different patterns. These are detailed and exquisite videos. With the resources available that I've come across, there's enough info to keep me busy learning learning how to tie flies through the next 10 cold winters. Good luck.

[Diaz 0]

I don't want to come across as negative, but one book I would NOT recommend for beginners is, "Mastering the Art of Fly Tying," by G. Randolph Erskine. Mr. Erskine was undoubtedly very knowledgeable and has written a VERY thorough book, but it's not really for a beginner. It's far too detailed and demanding, as far as techniques and suggested materials go, and the pictures are virtually worthless. If you wanted to tie, say, the first half of the flies in the book - exactly as instructed - you would go broke and/or crazy just trying to obtain the materials needed. It doesn't give you options or suggestions for alternative materials - not even the hooks! It might be good for a borderline-intermediate tier who wants to perfect or change their technique, but it's a bit TOO helpful for a true beginner.

 

However, I DO like Peter Gathercole's book, and recommend it highly to any beginner who just has to have at least one book (like me). Like many others have said, though, videos are pretty much a necessity if you don't have someone to show you how or if you're not in a class. The few clips I've watched of the FAOL series have been great, because they're very "basic," which is what I need. I also like how they didn't edit out all the parts where Mr. Beatty "messed-up" or didn't do something perfectly. It's just comforting/reassuring to see that you're not the ONLY person who struggles with some of the most basic things. Even the PROS don't thread the bobbin perfectly and effortlessly every time, or cut the thread on the hook!