fly tying book

Charlie Craven’s Fly Box

charlies-fly-box-book-cover

I have just read Charlie Craven’s latest book, and yet again it is a superb piece of work. The extremely high standard of the fly tying tutorials, both in terms of the writing and photography makes the construction of the flies very easy to follow.

While it is probably true that none of the flies in the book are truly new, it is also probably true that most ‘new’ flies are variations on a theme. In Charlie Craven’s case it is the value of the innovative materials he uses to construct his flies and the equally innovative tying methods he demonstrates, that sets the book apart from others.

I defy even experienced fly-tyers  not to learn a good deal from the pages. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. You can get it at Amazon.

Posted by Tony Bishop in fly tying

Barr Flies

John Barr, creator of the Copper John nymph and many other flies has put pen to paper, or probably more correctly, keyboard to hard disk, and produced a book. ‘Barr Flies’ is quite simply a wonderful book that should grace the bookshelves of all fly-tyers.

John outlines clearly and succinctly the process and thinking that lead to the creation of several of his very successful fly patterns, and gives a very clear outline of how he fishes them. This is presented without the flowery, pseudo mysticism that pervades too many American fly-fishing books.

On top of the good clear writing, are truly excellent tutorials on tying John Barr’s flies, written and photographed by Charlie Craven, no slouch as a fly-tyer and fly fisherman himself. In my view these tutorials and photographs have set a new bench-mark in fly-tying instruction. Clear, concise and informative.

The only niggle I have is that the few drawings in the book, presumably drawn by John Barr because they are not attributed, are awful – stick to designing flies John! Fortunately this does not detract too much from the overall impact of this fine book.

If you are into fly-tying get this book.

Posted by Tony Bishop in fly tying