This fascinating and informative book provides a history of the development of wet fly-fishing, particularly the Scottish and North Country schools and their leading protagonists. The Scottish school was led by William C. Stewart, who was the first advocate of fishing and casting upstream. His book, The Art of Trout Fishing More Practically Applied to Clear Water, originally published in 1857, is still one of the most popular and enduring books on the subject. The North Country school was developed principally by Thomas E. Pritt, H.H. Edmonds, and N.N. Lee. North Country spiders are still fished extensively and led to the development of flymphs and other soft-hackle patterns. However, the development of wet fly-fishing was not restricted to the rivers and streams of the north of England and the Scottish border; G.E.M. Skues was one of the few anglers to appreciate the possible application of North Country fishing methods to southern chalk streams and H.C. Cutcliffe wrote about wet fly fishing on the rivers and streams of the West Country. Discover the history of upstream wet fly fishing in this well-researched, accessible book and learn from the masters of this particular art.

61 fly patterns: Partridge and Orange, Iron Blue Dun, and many more historically proven flies Ten new chapters on tiny soft hackles and how to tie them New color photos of 38 tiny soft hackles Sylvester Nemes is singlehandedly responsible for the popularity of the soft-hackled fly in American fly fishing today. "The Soft-Hackled Fly," Nemes's first book, written in 1975, was the catalyst for the resurgence. Now revised with ten new chapters on tiny flies and full-color photos, Nemes shares colorful experiences at home and abroad, the history of the soft-hackled fly, and illustrated step-by-step instructions for tying the flies. He also describes his technique of fishing the flies.

Provides step-by-step instructions on tying five hundred trout flies and offers information on tying techniques, tools, and materials.

Advanced tight line nymphing tactics, including Czech, Polish, French, Spanish, and American techniques.

This second edition contains new chapters on reading the seasons and tenkara and is superbly illustrated with more than 100 new color photos.