Way back in 1971 Doug Swisher and Carl Richards turned the fly fishing world on it’s collective ear with their publication of the first edition of Selective Trout; some say that very book opened the door to a much more technical approach to thinking about how, when, and why trout feed in the fly fishing literature to follow.
I sure as hell still have my copy, sitting alongside LaFontaine’s epoch Caddisflies (1981) and the revised edition of Selective Trout (1988). Some classics still tell the stories better than the condensed versions seemingly so prevalent today.
In part that’s one reason I was pleased as punch to be able to review a copy of Flies for Selective Trout, co-authored by Doug and Sharon Swisher, hot off the press from Skyhorse Publishing once again.
The Swishers have settled in Western Montana, Hamilton to be exact, and have contributed greatly to the stock of storied fishers living, fishing, and playing under the Big Sky. They’ve continued to innovate at the vise, quite impressively actually, and Sharon is probably one of the most under-appreciated and yet highly skilled femaile fly fishers in the nation.
The book is all business when it comes to presenting detailed introductions and tying instructions for three main groups: dries, nymphs and strymphs, and streamers. You’ve probably been tying some of these for years (I’ve been carrying the Madam X and Parachute Madam X everywhere since the early 80’s), though there’ll be a few flies in every category that will be new or at least present a new spin on an old concept.
Spending a bit more time down south these days with work, I’ve found the streamers the most interesting of all and have been cranking a few out since back from the coast on Friday.
This is a beautiful hardback with superb images detailing tying steps and key points clearly; every fly has a brief introductory anecdote relating to some key point in its history or life, and there are a bevy of images of nice fish taken on these flies from around the country, but focusing on Montana and the Northern Rockies.
I can’t imagine a hardcore fly tier who wouldn’t want this book on his or her shelf.
Once again, courtesy of Skyhorse Publishing, we have a brand-spanking-new, never-opened-a-crack, untouched copy to give away. Fire an email here with Flies for Selective Trout in the subject line and your mailing address; we’ll draw for this one Wednesday morning, 5 July, at 0900.
If you’ve stopped tying this summer you’ll be digging the vise out again pronto…
Cheers and good reading.
