Product Description

Covers the whole spectrum of species that can be caught on the fly; 450 patterns in superb colour and individual recipes for their tying; Each fly has its best method of use, its history and preferred species; Wherever you are in the world there are fish that can be caught on the fly. It may be in the all too brief summer of the high arctic or the blistering heat of the tropics. It could be among the classical surroundings of an English chalk stream or the rugged grandeur of Tierra del Fuego. The fish themselves may be stunningly huge or devilishly cunning. Some may be truly beautiful and others rather bland, but binding the whole is the magical world of the fly fisher who wants nothing other than to cast concoctions of fur, feather and synthetics. The flies may be exquisitely crafted imitations of minute insects or wonderful imaginations using rare and exotic feathers, or they may bear more resemblance to bait fishes; and yet they are all capable of deceiving fish into accepting them. Throughout the world the range of artificial flies is enormous. There are certainly many thousands, with more being developed every day, but some have stood the test of time and others have been quickly accepted as bench marks in the fly fisher's armoury of patterns. Within this book are flies to inspire you to stretch your fly fishing boundaries or maybe to bring new ideas to your home patch. The author aims to give working flies for every situation throughout the world where it is possible to fly fish and to stimulate the fly fisher into further horizons.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #397770 in Books
• Published on: 2004-07-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 480 pages

About the Author
Peter Cockwill is an acclaimed fishing writer who has published Introduction to Fly Tying (1996) and has written for many fishing magazines. He runs Albury Game Angling in Surrey.

Customer Reviews

Fantastic reference
This book provides a terrific reference from one of the world's true experts.
Well illustrated........totally useful to own .
A gem.

Fly pattern directory
I haven't done any fishing outside the UK, without a local guide. Given the cost of foreign travel and holidays, I'd rather get the best out of a trip by using local expertise to get off to a flying start than the cheaper DIY method. So I don't think that I'd use this book as a way of preparing for a trip. However, I do find the book extremely useful. I've only been fly-fishing for a couple of years so I've not been around as the news about most flies has broken. When I come across a fly in a magazine, the article usually glosses over its history and how to tie it. How does a relative beginner dig out such information about a fly? This book solves that problem for me. I look up the fly's name in the index, and go straight to the fly's page. For UK Stillwater trout flies, the book hasn't yet let me down. This is the only book I've seen that contains my most successful fly to date - the fritz zonker (called "fritz rabbit" by the author).

Each fly has a succinct description, some history, and brief tying instructions. There is an attempt to explain how it works, which is quite interesting. The author thinks that the fritz rabbit is an ugly pattern that "certainly works", and I agree - I didn't use it until it was the only green and black fly in my box, when other anglers said the trout were on black and green. But it turned out to be dynamite, and not only for newly stocked rainbows. It has caught trout up to 4.5lb, pike, and even last week a perch. We don't agree on all points, but at least we can have a "discussion". I trust the author's wide experience, and the recognition he gets in the angling press.

The brief tying instructions I find entirely satisfactory. I'm not vastly experienced at fly tying, but easily get by with the author's instructions. If you aren't experienced, then I suggest that you buy an introductory fly tying book first. I started out by reading another of Cockwill's books "An introduction to fly tying", which is excellent.

The only quibble that I have with the book is that the pattern sequence bewilders me. I can't browse the book easily, as the patterns seem to be presented in a random sequence. Alphabetical order would have been better than nothing. That's why I'm only giving the book four stars. Otherwise, it is a respectable addition to my fishing library.

Simply Awful!
The best thing you can do with this book is use it as a coaster to prevent coffee rings on your tying bench. The only good thing about this book is, it covers all types of fly fishing, and has dressings for hundreds of flies. However, the dressings are so poorly described, you need to have well developed fly tying skills to be able to dress the patterns. If that is the case, then you won't need this book, because you'll probably know how to tie most patterns that you''ll ever need.

One of the worst aspects of this book is the photography. Instead of using a neutral-grey background, a white backdrop is used throughout the book. This means that it's impossible to view any detail on any fies with white components. This is surprising, because the photographers are both well known and respected in the field, i.e. Peter Gathercole and Terry Griffiths

AVOID.