Post by stephenjay on Dec 15, 2005 14:12:33 GMT -6
For those who have a copy of the Fly Tying Bible by Peter Gathercole, he has released a new book of a similar format called Fly Tying for Beginners. Same spiral bound book, same good picture layouts, same writing style.
This new book contains "50 failsafe flies", and unfortunately, it has some flies already in the Fly Tying Bible, specifically:
It also contains some flies that are similar but tied differently, or similar names but different flies;
Given that there are 11 flies that are exactly the same as in the fly tyers bible, just better explained in the beginners book, I still think this is a worth while purchase for myself. I enjoy the tactile feeling of a book more than a web page, and I enjoy Peter Gathercole's writing style, specifically in the tying bible.
I think it has some value to myself in so far as going over the proper techniques for some of the fundamentals such as dubbing and different wing techniques (called core techniques in the book). Not only that, for each of the flies in the book, it references core techniques in case the tyer stumbles.
I think it is unfortunate that this came out after the tying bible, not only for those of us who could have used this when we first started tying, but he could have formatted the selection of flies in the bible to better complement the selection in the beginners book. One other issue with this book I found unfortunate. With the bible, it has a section in the back of the book that breaks down the different salmonoids and the flies useful to target those species. The beginners book indicates which fish a specific fly can be used with (although it only identifies 1 steelhead pattern), but it doesn't have a dedicated section with this information, and I think that while this is almost an insignificance, it is unfortunate as well.
Overall, I recommend both of these books to any beginner tyer's bench, and to anyone who has the tying bible and wants to complement it for their fly fishing library. Those who view books as a tool and not an investment, and already have a good foundation of tying skills, probably could better invest the $30 odd in more materials.
More info on the book can be found here. No worries, I am not making money on this link.
This new book contains "50 failsafe flies", and unfortunately, it has some flies already in the Fly Tying Bible, specifically:
- Flashback Pheasant Tail Nymph
- Soldier Palmered
- March Brown
- Sparkle Pupa
- Royal Wulff
- Blue Charm
- Mantuka
- Peeping Cadis
- Deerhair Fry
- Egg Sucking Leech
- Dave's Hopper
It also contains some flies that are similar but tied differently, or similar names but different flies;
- Diawl Bach
- CDC Dunn
- Baetis Nymph
- Blue Wing Olive
- Minkie
- Prince Nymph --> now called Crystal Prince Nymph and has Crystal Flash in the new book
- Stimulator --> now called X Stimulator and has rubber legs tied in an X shape in the new book
- Wooly Bugger --> now called Conehead Bugger in the new book
Given that there are 11 flies that are exactly the same as in the fly tyers bible, just better explained in the beginners book, I still think this is a worth while purchase for myself. I enjoy the tactile feeling of a book more than a web page, and I enjoy Peter Gathercole's writing style, specifically in the tying bible.
I think it has some value to myself in so far as going over the proper techniques for some of the fundamentals such as dubbing and different wing techniques (called core techniques in the book). Not only that, for each of the flies in the book, it references core techniques in case the tyer stumbles.
I think it is unfortunate that this came out after the tying bible, not only for those of us who could have used this when we first started tying, but he could have formatted the selection of flies in the bible to better complement the selection in the beginners book. One other issue with this book I found unfortunate. With the bible, it has a section in the back of the book that breaks down the different salmonoids and the flies useful to target those species. The beginners book indicates which fish a specific fly can be used with (although it only identifies 1 steelhead pattern), but it doesn't have a dedicated section with this information, and I think that while this is almost an insignificance, it is unfortunate as well.
Overall, I recommend both of these books to any beginner tyer's bench, and to anyone who has the tying bible and wants to complement it for their fly fishing library. Those who view books as a tool and not an investment, and already have a good foundation of tying skills, probably could better invest the $30 odd in more materials.
More info on the book can be found here. No worries, I am not making money on this link.