Fly Tying Made Clear and Simple

5 years ago I was mentored by a friend who taught me to tie basic flies... unfortunately life got in the way and I didn't tie flies for two years. A year ago, I pulled out my vise and materials, which inlcluded this book. By starting from the beginning, this books takes you through all the basics and gives you a foundation to tie ANY fly you want - the only limiting factor is the price of materials. If you're new to tying, this book de-mystifies topics such as the whip finish and palmering hackle to name just a couple. As a bonus, it is spiral bound to lay flat so you can tie along with step-by-step instructions and troubleshooting.

I own a number of fly tying books and this, by far, is the best. If you start with only one book, start with this one. The author methodically goes step by step, using fly patterns which require most, if not all, of the basic skills. The photography and illustrations are wonderful. Not only does the author give you exact, easy to follow directions each step of the way, he goes as far as to give a point by point review of what should be done if you find yourself in a mess. (invaluable for a klutz like myself). This, as I indicated, is by far one of the best books for beginners, but should certainly be owned and used by more advanced fly tiers also. The price is well worth it and in the long run will save you much money and certainly much time and frustration. I do wish there were more "how to" books around of this quality. Highly recommend this one.

If you are a beginning fly tier, then this is YOUR book. I have read a couple of other fly tying books but this one is like taking lessons. If you follow the progression from front to back, it will take you step by step from beginner to advanced fly tyer. This book also helps the relatively advanced tyer by suggesting solutions to common tying problems as well as "tricks" that help simplify the processes. I was really impressed with this book. It also has a reference section as well as a small article on entimology.

Some people will tell you that you can't learn to tie from a book. But the author has clearly researched the misunderstandings that novice tiers have and explains things in a very clear way. Each chapter has a "Problems, Solutions, and Suggestions" section that is very useful for the beginner. Often when I encountered problems, I found that re-reading the text very carefully led me to discover what I was doing wrong. Also, you learn something new with each fly -- so my recommendation would be to work through the progression he's laid out from start to finish. The coolest part is that the resulting flies will catch fish! Even the ones that you tie in the beginning. So it's easy for me to give this one a high rating.

This is a great book for beginners. It has excellent illustrations of flies and fly tying material. When you go to buy the material, you will have a picture of what you need. It doesn't have a big selection of flies, but I recommend that you start out with them. I have used most of them and they catch fish. (my most important basis for buying this book) The book takes you step by step through tying the most popular flies, tells you what can go wrong when your tying them and best of all, gives you solutions to common problems. Buy it and you will learn the lingo, know what materials the author is talking about and tie flies that you can use in no time. The spiral edition is best because you can keep it open when you are working.