I PM'd one of the mods and asked if it were possible on this forum to get a sticky topic (I.e. one that always stays at the top of the forum) for us to list the books that we use. Will let you know what the mod says.

Stickied by your fly flingin' moderator

I'll add one, an online book Fly Fishing the Texas Coast: Backcountry Flats to Bluewater

Tying and Fishing the Fuzzy Nymph got me started. This guys my mentor. Check out his work and comment if this an acceptable spot.

http://web.mac.com/robertdotson/iWeb/Fly%20Collection/Polly%20Rosborough.html

That is a beautiful page! I took the liberty of making the URL clickable in your post (that is my main activity as Fly Fishing moderator. You guys don't cause much trouble at all )

The Casual Dress looks to be Jack Gartside's inspiration for his Sparrow. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Further commentary - on the photos themselves and not the flies. The illumination from below and behind, the effect is quite nice.

Search Polly Rosborough for his press clippings,he was one of kind. Wrote a book at 80 about trapping, entitled Martens I have known. I can't say enough about this gent, he took me under his wing after watching me fish a section of his home river really poorly. I was very young and thought this was a distance sport.
He had a little shotgun shack on the Williamson River where he sold everything a fisherman needed. Coca Cola, cheese crackers and his book. He invited me to have a soda, gave me a handful of flies and sold me a book he autographed for free. I hadn't a clue who he was. Made the trip at least once a year after that to fish and vist. He was a frequent visitor to my mother in laws gallery...she would assist him w/the shadowbox fly displays that became popular.

I really am a devotee of terrestrials. If you haven't read Harrison Steeves book called Tying Flies with Foam, Fur, and Feathers you are missing a lot. You can get it on Amazon for under $10 bucks and it is worth that several times over. Its the bible on Foam Terrestrial Flies.

Another great book is Fly Tying with Poly Yarn by Lee Clark.

Flies for Bass and Panfish by Dick Stewart. 80 pages of patterns, pictures and recipes for the flies.

Tying Foam Flies by Skip Morris

Veering off-topic slightly; but what a gem of a thing to have known him and gotten to fish with him!

If you plan to pursue primarily bass with your whippy stick, I highly recommend Whitlock's book as a starting point even before you take a lesson or buy a fly rod. Don't worry, it isn't an advertisement disguised as a book. The only mention of L.L. Bean at all is in the pictures of some of the gear.
L.L. Bean Fly Fishing for Bass Handbook


If you want to learn more about the habits and behaviors of largemouth bass and get a good history lesson on bass fishing, I highly recommend Ellis' book.
Bassin' with a Fly Rod

Most of the books that will be listed here are probably available used at very reasonable prices. Used books are your friends and usually don't have all the knowledge sucked out of them yet.

This is not a book, but the fly tying section on Fly Anglers Online is a great place to review, snag ideas.

Flies by J. Edson Leonard.. if you could only have one. The color plates,illustrated drawings are very impressive. Still copies around I found three w/little trouble. People who don't fish love to page through the book.

FlyFisher's Guide to Texas - Phil H. Shook

The bible on where to fish with a fly rod and really any other rod in Texas. Where to put in and what to expect when you get there.

An excellent web site on Texas Rivers:

http://www.texasflyfishing.com/rivers.html

great site on fly tying

http://www.flyanglersonline.com

Check out Simple FliesFlies you can tie with 3 materials or less, C.Boyd Pfeiffer. Lot of cool quick practical patterns.

The Basic Manual of Fly-Tying by Fling and Puterbaugh is an old book now as it was first published in 1977, but the techniques are great and the illustratians are amoung the best. I still pick up another copy whenever I see one for about five bucks at Half Price Books so that I can give them to beginners. If you can learn to tie these trout flies, then you have learned the techniques to tie most anything.

Big Dale

Thank you so much for this thread, I have really filled out my wish list with your suggestions

Carp On The Fly - A Flyfishing Guide by Barry Reynolds

Excellent book on how too catch carp n a fly and tying instructions for flies that work for them.

Bluegill Fly Fishing & Flies by Terry and Roxanne Wilson

yup, I got that one too. Pretty good info on fishing for warmwater fish which really is most of our fishing in Texas.

'Terrestrials - A Modern Approach to Fishing And Tying with Synthetic and Natural Materials' by Harrison Steeves and Ed Koch.

Terry and Roxanne's other two books are very good also. The one about bass fishing may have mre application for most Texans, but the smallmouth hold a special place in my heart also.

Big Dale

Pike on the Fly- The flyfishing guide to northerns, tigers, and muskies by Barry Renolds & Jon Berryman

I got this when I was going to Minnesota yearly. I havent gone since I got the book

Fly tying Bible by peter gathercole 100 different fly patterns supposed to be trout and salmon but as always some cross overs. Great beginner book

compliments the Jack Ellis book well, same general approach to america's favorite gamefish
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Bass-Bug-Fishing/H-G-Tapply/e/9781558217898/?itm=1

Christian's thread on tying spinner flies reminds me of one of the old standards that a lot of newby's may not know about. It is Fly Tying and Fly Fishing For Bass And Panfish by Tom Nixon. This book has more in it than any other about using spinners on flys. Tom passed a few years ago, but I was privileged to get to know him and considered him a friend for several years. He published theree editions of his book and the second edition has always been my favorite. You can sometimes pick up a copy on evil bay or Amazon. It also has great sections about splicing fly fines, and shortening the old Wonderods that he used so that it was easier to cast some of the "stuff" that he cast for bass.

We can still learn a lot from Tom.

Big Dale

Some recent posts have reminded me of just how far I have come, I owned a fly rod for a couple decades before I learned how to properly use it, and the beginning series of books by Dave Whitlock marketed by L L Bean are one thing I read from cover to cover, there are better books for individual techniques but for a good overall picture of Fly Fishing, tying, rods, lines, species, and more this is hard to beat.


http://www.amazon.com/L-L-Bean-Fly-Fishing-Handbook-Second/dp/1592282938/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_a

The Orvis Fly Tying Guide is an excellent tutorial and encyclopedia for fly tiers in one volume. I recommend it in hardcover because it is a great reference tool you will use over and over and want to last a lifetime/hand down to the next generation.

Dave Whitlock's books...all of them...are chock full of fly fishing and life wisdom that is highly applicable anywhere you fish. But Dave is a true warmwater expert.

I third the motion on Fly Anglers Online for tutorials, recipes, articles, etc. It is an awesome fly fishing wiki-type site that is HUGE and built largely by some true experts, most of whom are/were NOT professionals in the fly fishing biz promoting themselves. And that guy who wrote the Ozark Angler column - he must be some kind of super-stud uber genius who catches all the fish and gets all the chicks! LOL

For casting, gotta go with Texas native Bill Gammel's "The Five Essentials of Fly Casting"...considered holy scripture by the FFF's Casting Instructor Certification Program. It's easy to understand and truly genius.

The LL Bean fly fishing guide books are also excellent. Actually, I like them better than the Orvis books overall. But the Orvis fly tying book is a gold standard.

And if you like or want to fish CO, there is an absolute must-see DVD that came out last year from the CDW that was shot by a friend of mine named Nick Clement titled, "Fly Fishing Colorado." It is THE best thing I have ever seen come out of a state tourism bureau or dept of wildlife/fish & game/etc. It is divided into chapters by MONTH. So you can choose WHEN you are going and then click on that chapter of the DVD. It will tell you what rivers/lakes are best that time of year and what is hatching all over the state with very well shot and well produced video footage, maps, graphics, etc.

fly patterns of Alaska is a great book for people tying for Alaska like I am. lots of great patterns, also woolly wisdom, the best book of woolly buggers ever!

When I was in the Half Price Books on Campbell Road in Richardson this morning, they had a few of Gierach's books for sale. I picked up a copy of Fool's Paradise cause it was there and I have not read it. They also had a copy of Still life with Brook Trout and several of his other books in paperback. I suspect they will go pretty good in this 100 degree heat.

Big Dale

I'll tell you a couple of fly tying/fishing books that are GREAT for Texas-style fly fishing if you do a bit of adaptation: Sylvester Nemes' works on tying and fishing soft hackle flies!

Nemes works are geared toward the trout angler, but if you simply "super-size" his patterns and concepts soft hackle flies and techniques work GREAT for pan fish and bass in streams and lakes!

A lot of bass fishermen don't know that even largemouth bass often eat more bugs than anything else. Migrating damselflies, dragonflies, and large chironomids are huge forage sources for Texas lake fish. And not knowing how to tie and fish imitations of these food sources is really a limit to the angler's options. Soft hackles are especially effective at catching pan fish.

And the big advantage of the soft hackle fly is that it BREATHES and appears LEGGY - simulating a wide variety of insect life more than sufficient to trigger the strike instinct of any predator fish. And there is no great soft hackle expert than Sylvester Nemes.

Sylvester Nemes
http://montana-riverboats.com/Pages/Fly-Tying/Sylvester-Nemes/index.html
Click on the slideshow and see some of his flies. I found this by doing a Google search. He does tie really nice flies, I had never heard of him, thanks for putting his name in the hat. I bet the BREAM WILL LOVE THESE FLIES!!!

The book that got me hooked on tying wet flies is Dave Hughes book Wet Flies. That sent me on a chase for tying materials that has lasted for about a decade and a half so far. Great book. It led me to buying four of Sylvester Nemes books and traveling to Montana and Idaho to watch Sylvester tie at various FFF conclaves thru the years. That reminds me that the FFF conclave in Loveland, Co. is coming up in a couple of weeks and it is time to get some reservations for a Denver area motel for a few days. If you are into tying flies, that is a great place to watch and learn from a bunch of the world's best...besides God made mountains for Texans to go to in the summer.

Big Dale

Clousers's Fly (GREAT BOOK...I personally have this one)

Anything you can get your hands on by Bob Popovics I suggest picking up and owning as well.

Here's a page on my blog that I keep listing out the fly tying books on my shelves:

http://awmiller.wordpress.com/2007/07/20/fishing-books-on-my-shelf/

I started out with Peter Cathercole's Fly Tying For Beginners. It has a section of core techniques which were great for getting me started.

Each of the fifty flies gets four pages of tying instructions and photos.

I caught a few bream this weekend on a hare's ear spider with a red thorax. Now I remember where I found that pattern - it is the first fly in the book.

Grashpr...that was my first book too, and I recommend it as well. It seems it is mostly for trout flies, but you can catch a whole lot of bream off of trout flies. I loved that book too. It is also a reasonably priced book for a beginner.

Streamer Fly Tying & Fishing by Joseph D. Bates Jr.

I could post a number of books but here are just a couple on fly tying:

http://www.amazon.com/Benchside-Introduc...4820&sr=1-1
Reasonable price by the same guy that wrote the following big brother $100 book to this one.

http://www.amazon.com/Fly-Tiers-Benchsid...4820&sr=1-4 If you have some cash to spend on a reference fly tying book this is it.

My latest addition from Al Beatty: http://www.amazon.com/Rotary-Fly-Tying-T...4971&sr=1-1

I used the Amazon links but many of these can be found on Ebay for a few pennies less, but not a lot.

Rick

TFTBR might be a great book. For $100, all I can say is, "no thanks," "keep it," or, with a British accent, "Do us a favor!"

A used one just went for $50 this week on Ebay and you can find a new one for just over $60 if you shop, so you see that book holds it's value if you don't like it you can sell it. There are over 400 pages in a nice hardbound book. I have many $20 books that are 150 pages and are no where as complete. Again, this book is an investment and a wonderful reference piece. If you ever get a chance to put one in your hands, and flip through it you will see the value.

See if you can get it through one of your library systems to check out for a couple of days to see if you want to part with the money. It's not for everyone and that is why the little brother that is under $30 that I referenced as the first book is a great value by the same author. Read any reviews of those two books and the results are always the same - fantastic fly tying books. You have to make up your own mind though.

A friend of mine has the book, and it is fantastic. It may be the only fly tying book worth a lot of money...75 dollars is a better price...but still, they do have a LOT of stuff in it. If you can possibly afford it, the techniques in there will help you become a better tyer, no doubt. I give both of the books 5 stars.

My first fly tying books, the ones that got me started:

Skip Morris's Fly Tying Made Clear & Simple
Randall Kaufmann's Tying Nymphs and Tying Dry Flies
Chuck & Sharon Tyron's Figuring Out Flies
AK Best's Production Fly Tying

Other more recent books that are great manuals:

John Barr's Barr Flies
Bob Clouser's Clouser's Flies
Charlie Craven's Charlie Craven's Basic Fly Tying
Don Holbrook & Ed Koch's Midge Magic
Bob Linsenman & Kelly Galloup's Modern Streamers for Trophy Trout
Mike Mercer's Creative Fly Tying
Scott Sanchez's Introduction to Saltwater Fly Tying
Shane Stalcup's Mayflies Top to Bottom

For rank amateurs like me, Wapsi Fly Tying Handbook, $9.99 at BPS has been helpful so far.

The Orvis Fly Tying Guide is an excellent tutorial and encyclopedia for fly tiers in one volume. I recommend it in hardcover because it is a great reference tool you will use over and over and want to last a lifetime/hand down to the next generation.

+1 You can pick up one of htese at Half Price Books on South Hulen I did they have about 10 more copys.

If you want to see what a fishing journal should look like, get your hands on a copy of "Muriel Fosters Fishing Diary". She uses very few words, but expresses herself in pictures. Watercolors done before photos were readily available... It is stunning, and tells the tale of her trips in a way that words cannot...

Hey Harold; I think I puffed on your avatar!!!-p-

My newest and maybe my favorite!!!

Fishy's Flies & Fishy's favorites by Jay "Fishy" Fullum

Available through amazon.com

Jerry: I have seen those at half price books from time to time. Warning...I seldom go there wthoout finding at least oee book to buy as anyone can see by the shelves of books in my office. It is amazing how fast you can fill ANOTHER of those 3 OR 4 Foot shelves. It is a good thing I have never kept a running total on the cost of the books I buy.

Have fun with this stuff.

Big Dale

Ellis's Bassin' with a Fly Rod is a classic- I found it at the Half Price books on NW Hwy in Dallas for $5. Also found some great casting books by Mel Krieger and Lefty Kreh- Half Price doesn't know the value of some of what people bring in to them.

Anybody know of any books that talk about alternative fly rod tactics other than Ellis's book and Tom Nixon's books? I particularly mean using small spinners, pork rind, tiny rebel/arbogast lures, and soft plastics on the fly rod.

Parker Rhea

Would this be useful for gar fly fishing here in Texas?

Parker Rhea

Sorry, on my last post I was referring to whether "Pike on the Fly" would be useful for gar fly fishing in TX

The Fly Tiers' Benchside Reference; Leeson and Schollmeyer - Best $100 buck I have ever spent.

Parker:

I have Pike on the Fly and don't think it would offer much help on gar fly fishing. Over half of the book is focused on pike life cycles and behavior, while the second half turns to fly patterns. Some of those patterns could be modified for use with gar, but you can find them elsewhere.

Thanks

consider this one
Tube Flies Two: Evolution Mark Mandell; Bob Kenly (Author)

"Tying Better Flies" by Art Scheck is a good, practical book about tying techniques. It's focus is on making flies more durable, and covers a variety of fly types (bend-backs, Buggers, soft-hackles, dries, Clousers....). It has some of the better ideas I've seen for making flies weedless without making them fishless. The chapter about "Hooks, Threads, Cements & Finishes" is very useful when your trying to decide which to use for a particular application. I see this book for about $15 from time-to-time at Half-Price or Orvis.

"Essential Trout Flies" by Dave Hughes is available at some Half-Price books stores for $8. There was one left at the 75 and Campbell Road location when I was there on 9/21. I consider this a supplemental book. Hughes gives the basic instructions for tying a style (ex: parachute dries, fur nymphs) then provides patterns for six variations using that style.

I see there's space on my book shelf, so I'm going to lay down and contemplate all the reasons I don't need another fly tying book.

By the way, great book suggestions and links. Thanks everyone.

For your consideration

Tube Flies Two Evolution - Mark Mandell and Bob Kenly
Guide Flies - David Klausmeyer
Tying Warmwater Flies - C.Boyd Pfieffer

Just got a digital version of The Complete Book of Fly Tying. Looks good so far. The drawings are better than the photos, but hey, they were taken in 1977!

+1 for Woolly Wisdom

Dick Brown's Bonefish Fly Patterns , and even though it's for Bonefish, there are a lot of great crawfish patterns in there that are great for freshwater fishing!

Hi! I have been tying for a little over a year now, and I am learning more and more every day. There is two (2) books that I got recently that have helped me a lot.
The firts one is "Hooks for the Fly" by William E. Schmidt. This is a very usefull book to identifiy the hook the recepies call for. If you do not have the same hook you can look at the tables and find the one that is compatible, and if you have hooks from local shops, that are not on the compatibility tables there is a section after each of the hooks manufacturers, that shows how the hook looks like, therefore you can select one out of your stock that look as close to it as possible. Very usefull and practical book.
the second one I founded in Half Price Books and is called "The Art of Fly Tying"" by Claude Chartrand. Excellent photography and graphics. The graphics are for the different technics of applying materials to the hook, very good descriptions step by step on all kind of different materials.
Hope you guys can find them, both are terrific.

If you want to see the most extensive collection of fly fishing and fishing related books for sale in North Texas, used, be sure to stop in at Recycled Books on the square in Denton, Texas. Recycled Books accounts for about 4 of ten books on my shelf, but be sure you check around - if you are thinking of buying online. Recycled's books are simply priced at half of the original selling price and that can be way high on some titles, but you would be supporting the local economy after all!

Beginner's Fly Tying by Charlie Craven... best step by step how to I've seen.