Back in my single days, before fatherhood and getting hitched, I was into the peaceful pasttime of fly fishing. I also used to spend weekends rock climbing and scuba diving and my motor bike was my primary source of transportation. Now, my motor bike is gathering dust in the shed (I lost the ignition keys sometime during the past 5 years), my climbing and diving gear is in a box somewhere, and as for my fly tying box, it is probably buried deep underneath the pile of kids soccer gear, kids snorkeling gear and kids cricket sets. Father hood is great, but I do miss the spontaneous weekends and the adrenalin rush of danger and pushing my body to its limits.

Strangely enough fly fishing is one of the things about those days that I miss the most. I enjoy the skill that is involved, the science and the detail, the artistic element combined with the practical useful side of it, and deep down I like to think of myself as a hunter. Taking the time to prepare the bait, waiting and watching and being one with nature. There is something primal about it - it speaks to my inner man and connects me with my ancestors.

There are many elements to fly fishing - location and gear and patience and skill but one of the main aspects is the art of fly tying. A highly skilled ancient craft that has developed over hundreds of years. The Basic Manual of Fly-Tying: Fundamentals of Imitation by Paul N. Fling and Donald L. Puterbaugh, published by Sterling; 3 edition (August 1, 2007), is a book that makes me long for a quiet afternoon alone where I can fiddle with feathers and hooks and dream of a river somewhere.

My wife (Kathreen) asked me to review this book and seeing as I was drooling over it I readily agreed. What is so good about it? Well for a start the diagrams are amazing and the process is extremely detailed. But first what is fly-tying? It is basically decorating the fishing hook to make it look like an insect, in any of its life cycles - sometimes as an adult and sometimes in its juvenile state or in its emerging or hatching state. It is the art of imitation. I have to say more about the illustrations - they are so detailed, really describing well what you are trying to make and giving good entomology drawings. The fly patterns are shown next to their real life counterparts - and the process drawings and step-by-step instructions are the next best thing to having someone actually show you how to make these.

There is a large section in the book on tools and I really appreciate that it gives you the whole range of tools but then breaks it down to the essentials and the extras for the gadget guys. I can understand that many might think the art of fly tying is not nice - especially when they learn about the materials that are used - but as I said before - it is a primal sport, not for the feint hearted. Materials used are rarely synthetic they are the real thing and are quite expensive. Cocks are specially bred for their long tail feathers and turkey feathers are also popular as are pheasant feathers and peacock herl. Also used is hair and fur, such as muskrat and elk hair, rabbit whiskers and squirrel tail. There is a big section on the various materials that are required for different types of flys. There is also a really good section on the insect life cycle. It is important to know about the aquatic insects life cycle as this is what will attract the fish - and the difference here between a wet and dry fly.

Anyway too much detail - its a good book and a great sport.

About the author: Rob Shugg is an inventor and self confessed nerd. He is married to another nerd/artist and together they have two children.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 17th, 2007 at 10:18 am and is filed under historic crafts, reviews+literature+media. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will be moderated but will appear as soon as humanly possible.