This article first appeared in the April 2013 issue of the Northwoods Sporting Journal.
It’s springtime again, and for fly fishing enthusiasts that means a fresh new season of throwing flies on the water is just about here. If you tie your own flies, you’ve probably been at the bench and vise this winter anticipating open water, dutifully working up a few dozen of those old trusted patterns, and maybe tying something new to try this year.
The more I get into fly fishing and tying, the more amazed I am at the endless possibilities of how to fool a fish with fur and feathers…..not to mention hair, beads, wire, floss, rubber legs and synthetics of all kinds. With numerous ways to imitate the wide selection of food available to the fish in each water, we’ll probably never stop coming up with new fly patterns. And the merchants who deal in all these fly tying materials will gladly continue to make our wallets thinner each season.
Invariably, every serious fly tyer will have a few pattern books lying around. That’s changed some with the availability of information online and Youtube videos, but the old tried and true books are still a valuable resource. Most show the reliable patterns that we all know and love, with some variation in styles used in the eastern and western U.S.
Given the vast amount of resources available for fly tyers in North America, I never thought much about getting too creative with fly patterns or thinking about tyers around the world. That changed this winter when Tony Lolli sent me a copy of his new book, Fly Patterns by Fishing Guides: 200 Flies that Really Work.
You might recognize Tony as a fly fishing columnist for the Sporting Journal and self-described ‘broken down fly fishing guide’. Over the years, Lolli learned that every fly fishing guide has their favorite ‘go-to’ fly patterns, often those of their own creation, and he got to wondering about the flies used by guides around the world. He looked up fly fishing guides from other countries and started contacting them. Over 20,000 of them. It was a long, laborious process which resulted in the completion of a book the likes of which I’ve never seen.
Imagine looking through a book of 200 fly patterns and not recognizing a single one of them. I’m serious. You want to talk about trying something new at the tying bench? A guy from the Netherlands shares a foam wasp pattern that’s so lifelike you can scare your friends with it. Australia harbors over 28,000 species of beetles. Mick Hall shows you how to tie one of them, but you’re on your own for the rest. Howard Henley’s favorite fly catches rainbows even when elephants muddy up the water in Kenya. And a fellow named Leif from Sweden shares a water boatman imitation I’m convinced will be dynamite in northern Maine brook trout ponds.
Tony’s book is a 288 page spiral bound hardcover that will lay flat at the table or bench and stay turned to the page you’re on like any tying book should. Half of the patterns are freshwater, half are saltwater, though I’ll bet a lot of the saltwater patterns will work inland.
The full-color photography in the book is superb. Each fly is displayed twice on the page, and its parts are labeled with accompanying detailed tying instructions. A materials list is included, along with a graphic showing the fly’s actual size. A writeup is included for each contributing guide and information given about the fly and its use.
If you love to tie flies and are looking to try some new patterns, you need a copy of “Fly Patterns by Fishing Guides”. If nothing else, it’ll open your eyes to a whole new world of fly creations and spark some ideas for new ones of your own. But chances are, you’ll be like me and try tying a bunch of these just to see if they’ll work in your area. It’s early in the season and there’s plenty of time. Plus, you probably have a few bucks left in that wallet to shell out for more tying materials. Just keep telling yourself (and your wife) this habit will pay itself off someday.
Autographed copies of “Fly Patterns by Fishing Guides” are available from Tony Lolli for just $20 postpaid by mailing payment to: P.O. Box 9, Cabot, VT 05647, or you can purchase the book online at Amazon.com or from other online retailers. I can’t say why the book is so cheap, except to speculate that Tony owns stock in some of those ultra-wealthy fly tying materials peddlers.
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