Hi All,

I have been ploughing through fly fishing magazines and literature like a man possessed.

I was wondering if anyone could recommend a fairly simple fly guide which details, mainly, the times of the year various flies are prevalent in the environment; this would be really useful, as I have a few books which detail the different types of fly (dry wet etc) and their component parts, and roughly how to fish them.

Any help would be great.

Hopefully might be able to get out this weekend

Rich

have a look here, scroll down the page to coloured bar graph ..

North Country Spiders, Partridge and Orange, Snipe and Purple

a good book to have handy even waterside is goddards waterside guide easy to keep in pocket or bag ..

JOHN GODDARD'S WATERSIDE GUIDE: AN ANGLER'S POCKET REFERENCE TO THE INSECTS OF RIVERS AND LAKES. | All Fishing Books | Coch-y-Bonddu Books

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WHEN YOU LEAVE THE RIVER, TAKE NOTHING, AND LEAVE ONLY FOOTPRINT'S!!!

THA CAN TELL A YORKSHIREMAN ,BUT THA CAN'T TELL HIM MUCH !!

Matching the Hatch by Pat 0'Reilly is worth a look, well laid out with clear illustrations of naturals and their imitations.

Just purchased John Goddard's book and we reference Match the Hatch at our fly tying group.

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Help fund the WTT study of the Softmouth

Other than Matching The Hatch & Waterside Guide you might want to look at

John Cawthorne....The Fly Fisherman's Entomological Pattern Book
ISBM: 1-86126-320-1 £16-99 list
I heartily recommend it.
Tight Lines

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"The Future's Bright The Future's Wet Fly"

Sorry - not for me. Pat 0'Reilly oversimplifies the matching to only, I think, seven artificials to cover all species. Too limited -Greenwell's Glory anyone?








Highlander is on the right track. John Cawthorne's book is a good practical guide; slightly too wide to fit in the pocket, mine lives in the glove compartment instead.

I'll scan a page later to illustrate how good this pattern book is; on Olives for example.

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Save the softmouth trout

Interesting comment Ephemerella for I just worked out that I caught all my trout on
Adams
Ant
GRHE
PTN
Shrimp
Buzzer
Grey Wulff

7 patterns!

Perhaps we make things too complicated for ourselves? Perhaps it comes down to presentation?

O' Reilly suggests seven patterns that would cover most eventualites, but the book also includes scores of imitative patterns from world class tiers, certainly enough for a beginner, and is small enough to take out as a field guide.

The book itself is not a hard read, divided into seasonal chapters and therefore, IMHO, fits the OP's criteria.

Oh, and welcome to the forum Oddgitt, no relation to Fat Old are you?

I also often find myself using the Flyfishermens Entomological Patter Book by john Cawthorne as my first reference before delving deeper to cross reference....it's a bobby dazzler!
Take alook at this thread from recentlyFor many more answers and suppliers, particuarly the FSC guides.
A Book to Help With Recognition Of?


A great source for Books is ABE (in your search will get you straight there) this is where the second hand dealers by an sell... and is often much cheaper than amazon.

Guys, wow, thanks for the great response. Plenty of information there.

I've ordered Goddards & O'Reillys Books and will track down Cawthornes shortly. Suppose you can never have enough reference material!!

Brownsville - no relation!

I also bought 'secrets of fly-fishing for trout', by Ian Ball, which is a fairly simple guide but a good introduction, it's helped clear a few things up.

Thanks again!

Rich