Fishing Flies and Fly Tying by William F. Blades

Description

This is a facsimile of the book published in 1962 entitled Fishing Flies and Fly Tying by William F. Blades.

From the inside flap of the 1962 edition of Fishing Flies and Fly Tying:

If genius is a supreme capacity for taking pains, then Bill Blades is most assuredly a genius of fly tying. He also has an additional talent that is not always found among “geniuses”: he can write and illustrate in clear and easily assimilated terms, imparting to others the secrets of his skills and knowledge.

In Fishing Flies and Fly Tying he has put between the covers of an unusually interesting book the words and drawings of a master perfectionist whose interest in fishing began during his boyhood in England.

With characteristic understatement Bill Blades refers to his many years of fly tying experience as a hobby, but the readers of his book will soon recognize that here is the delineation of a true art, set forth to instruct the beginner and give new ideas to the expert.

There is a two-fold purpose in writing this book: to give the beginner the basic, sound information he needs about tools, materials, and methods and to provide the accomplished fly tyer, as well as the beginner, an encyclopedic reference of how-to information that will save many hours in pursuit of this unique art.

Approximately 935 flies have been photographed and 210 pen drawings, painstakingly researched, are produced with the authenticity of an expert.

Chapters:

1. Fly Tying Material
2. Hackles
3. Tying the Wet Fly
4. Selected Wet Fly Patterns
5. Methods of Winging the Artificial Fly
6. Streamer Flies
7. Streamer Fly Patterns
8. Large Trout Flies
9. Tying the Dry Fly
10. Important Dry Fly Patterns
11. Natural May Flies and Imitations
12. Other Types of Trout Stream Insects
13. Nymphs and Nymph Fishing
14. Jigs
15. Dragon Flies
16. Cork Bodied Bugs
17. Bass Flies and Hair Bass Flies
18. Jets
19. Bass and Bonefish Flies
20. Tube Flies
21. Salmon Flies and and Salmon Dry Flies
22. Smutting Flies
23. Land Insects
24. Miscellaneous
25. Fly Fishing for the Beginner
26. In Retrospect