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.