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Material listings, pictures and tying notes for no less than 34 hair winged salmon fly patterns

A really beautiful book about a very important Swedish river and - not least - a group of its most productive anglers and their flies.

Art Lingren's book on Syd Glasso and his flies pays well deserved homage to a very influential salmon fly tyer

I always loved the Red Tag. I have tied and fished this fly a thousand times, but tend to basically do it the same way every time. Not so anymore!

Another massive work on classic salmon flies from UK writer Martin Lanigan-O'Keeffe, this time on the flies from the House of Hardy.

The March Brown is one of the all time classic fly patterns, the origin of which must go back almost centuries.

The Mörrum fly has been named after the south Swedish river Mörrum, but is also sometimes referred to as The Grünewalder after its originator, Danish Jan Grünwald

A well proven Icelandic hair winged salmon fly, responsible for catching many large salmon

The secret behind catching Scottish spring salmon!

Italian fly tyer Stefano Farkas regularly sends me pictures of his beautiful, full dressed salmon flies. Here's another batch from him.

Italian Stefano Farkas ties some beautiful - and very large - full dressed salmon flies.

This book is pretty exotic and definitely not for the average fly tyer. But if you are interested in classic salmon flies and their history, it's a book you must have on your shelves.

If you are into classic salmon flies - like the real classics - and like to divulge in their history and origin, this is a book for you.

A short, enlightening and entertaining biography of the renowned Scottish salmon fly tyer Megan Boyd, a tyer who still inspires many salmon fly tyers and whose influence can still be found. Letters, anecdotes, photos and much more.

Danish Allan Nørskov Johansen ties a large, gaudy and semi-crazy fly with lots of hair, flash and rubber legs for stream fishing at night for sea run brown trout.

This might not look like the most exciting book I own. It isn't valuable. It isn't particularly beautiful either – rather ugly actually. Still it's one of the gems in my collection.

It all started with me being a bit sceptical about the colour of a hackle. It looked a bit too intense.
English not being my first language, I would have called the colour of the hackle purple, but the pattern said mauve. Mauve? I've never heard of that colour before, 

Brief and to-the-point are the words that come to mind after I have read this book

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Being an avid tube fly fan and having tied tube flies for almost as long as I have tied flies, I have wanted this book ever since it was published in 2006 where I saw it in a local flyshop. But it was expensive - and still is - and back then I didn't want to spend the money on books this expensive, but saved my money for less expensive books, fly-tying materials and fly gear.

These days I'm more of a spender when it comes to books. I have more money, and less need for materials and gear, so my book budget is bigger.

Some might consider it a bit mad or even crazy, but when Danish Niels Have ties full dressed, classic Jock Scott salmon flies, he ties them by the dozen... and then he fishes with them!

To borrow from Jerry Maguire, you had me at 1700 patterns.

One thousand seven hundred patterns. Chew on that for awhile.

This book could have been printed with smeared blue ink on newsprint using a vintage 1970's mimeograph machine and it would be worth the cover price.

After two pages of introduction there 300 plus of patterns and photographs, those photographs taken by the author who has established his bona fides in such books as "Tying the Classic Salmon Fly", "Classic Salmon Fly Materials", and "Twenty Salmon Flies".

We have featured Danish Niels Have's beautiful full dressed classic salmon flies before, but here's another take on them. He ties these flies for fishing, but in a very high quality.

Well done, Mr. Hård!
You have made an overwhelming book!
For many reasons.

Several keen fly fishers now use this salmon fly most of the season. This pattern is good for rivers in a higher state of flow.

I have said this before in connection with other books: I wish there were more books like this! When I say that, it's typically because we're talking something very exotic, something niche, something different, something admirable or something else that characterizes a book, which has been published in spite of economic motivation, market mechanisms or even common sense.
Such a book is Damien Welsh' book about the flies of Nova Scotia.

Step by step instructions for a classic salmon fly.

Tying flies not meant for fishing sounds odd to some but dragging others into the world of advanced techniques. Anders Ovesen takes us into his cave of threads and feathers and reveals some puzzles needed to tie da old school style. Hang on to this detailed description and fly to the 

Two hours of fly-tying. My wife says that it is the best way to fall asleep - meditative with those monotone voices and repetitions over and over. Not this time.

A small river. Clear water. An angler casting and fishing his way downstream. He's wearing a cap - a known silhouette. Swedish Mikael Frödin sets his hook and fights a very nice salmon. As he releases it, the salmon never leaves the water and it swims back after the tube fly with a chartreuse disc has been removed.

Ray Brook's classic the Sunray Shadow can hardly be outdone by any variation of this simple yet very efficient fly. But some people still like to add little details to killer patterns. This version of the Sunray has a body and eyes.

Do you know what flies to tie for clear water and how to tie them? Follow the Danish flytier Ken Bonde Larsen carefully tie some attractive and yet not too visible flies for the Canadian salmon. Tubes are his favorite and some with new plastic discs.

If you thought that silk lines, split cane rods and full dressed salmon flies was something people used a century ago, you may want to read this article about Niels Have who fishes his classical flies on a Phoenix silk line wound on a Hardy Perfect reel mounted on a Highlander two-hand split cane rod.

Martin has just received the ugliest flies he has ever seen in his life. And no, don't worry they weren't from a potential GFF contributor or a well meaning friend, but commercially tied. They just confirmed what he has always said: home tied flies are best.

The Sunray Shadow is a true killer fly for salmon fishing. Tied on a tube with a wing and no body, simple as few flies, but still - or maybe rather because of that - extremely efficient. The fly uses few materials and is very easy to tie.

Reviewing a book originally from 1989 might seem a bit silly. Let me assure you it isn't!
Reviewing a book written by J. D. Bates might seem a bit intimidating. Let me assure you it is!

I'm not sure quite how to attack the task at hand. On one side this is one of the all time classics written by Bates only a decade after his landmark monograph on streamers. On the other side it's just a book like any other from the 80's - not really impressing by today's standards and usually not something you would worthy much attention, had it not been for the author.

With this book Chris Mann has worked his way through yet another pile of flies sent to him from all over the world. His first epos in the series was the Shrimp & Spey flies, and he has now taken on a second and very large group of flies.

The concept is the same as Mann's second latest book. Why change something, which worked well the first time? So this book is also divided into three main parts: history, Europe and the US. As in the first book these are trailed by a comprehensive list of the flies and pattern descriptions.

Branchu is the Québecois word for wood duck, and a very suitable name for this fly with its characteristic wood duck wing. It's originated by Jean Guy Côte of Uni-Products, but has been slightly modified by GFF partner Martin Joergensen for his fishing.

Like many fly tyers, I've always had a fascination with spey style flies. Whether the slender classic dressings with their tented bronze mallard wings, or the bright featherwings of Syd Glasso, spey and spey style flies seem to bring out the best in fly tyers.

Prime Jungle Cock necks are rare to come by. Learn how 'upgrade' fishing quality JC necks in this article.

I've developed a habit instilled in me by my salmonfly tying mentors. When evaluating the salmon fly dressings of others, I look at the floss work first. It is a key characteristic that determines and shows the skills of the cream of the crop.

A pattern for salmon in the summer dusk. A salmon fly inspired by the Scottish pattern named after the lake Loch Dhu

A fly which is just a piece of imagination created one evenning in march. I have been fooling around with a plain type of steelhead or salmon flies this last year. These are all signified by simple feather wings and the use of classic materials like floss, tinsel and plain feathers

Marvin Nolte is a master of the classics and the tyer behind The Grainger Collection

Both IQ and Orange shrimp are excellent Sea Trout flies. They are easy and quick to tie. I've used them as a secret weapon for several years now. Weather conditions will dictate the size of fly I prefer. You may tie these patterns on any type of hook, singles, double including trebles in small sizes 10 to 14.
By Ismo Saastamoinen

This fly was ordered by Swedish Fly fishing shop as a logo type. I got the material and colors witch would be included and free hands to create. IQ Zeb Macahan was the final product of this.

Danish-American Poul Jorgensen belongs among the greatest inspirators when it comes to classical salmon flies. His book 'Salmon Flies - Their Character, Style, and Dressing' is metioned by many well known international salmon fly tyers as the book that started them as salmon fly tyers.

I've been fascinated with spey flies for a long time. The first I had ever seen was a Purple Spey tied by Tim Purvis, which arrived in a swap of steelhead flies a bunch of us FF@'ers exchanged several years ago. The next was an Olive Spey tied by Juro Mukai in a swap of atlantic salmon flies.

The Idiot - or 'Idioten' in Danish - is another typical Danish sea trout pattern. The story of this fly is quite well known and documented. A team of Danish fly fishers including Erik Døssing were fishing in Norway when one of the company stated that he had never caught a sea trout on fly in the stream Karup Aa - probably Denmark's most productive and famous sea trout stream.

Do Postal Services have notions of flyfishing? Do flyfishers have something in common with stamp collectors?

I have tried the hitch with little success as of yet, but after reading this book over and over, I am still a believer

This fly used to be a twist fly like the yellow Twist of Lemon, but it changed and eventually lost the typical twisted body. It has a normal tinsel body and a thorax of peacock herl, but looks much like the Twist of Lemon.

The purpose of the IQ Dawn Series is to cover most variations you can encounter at a salmon river. And hopefully catch a Salmon Salar, king of fish! All flies can easily be made to spey flies - just change the hackle to heron feather instead, in the same color.

I came upon an idea. Actually I combined two incidents into one idea. First of all I was going through my heron feathers (yes, I have more than one) and found some butts that I had saved after having tied whole body hackles. I wanted to use these feathers, which still had a lot of useful and long barbs, but unfortunately a very thick stem.

This fly uses a special technique where a strand of floss and a strand of tinsel is twisted together before the combo is wound on the hook shank.

In this autumn I had the pleasure of meeting my countryman Poul Jorgensen at two lectures he held here in Jutland, Denmark.
One of the flies he tied was his version of Edmund Drury’s famous salmonfly, the General Practitioner. Tied after its original recipe it’s something of a task to make; but Poul has found out a simpler, but just as effective pattern.

This is a very quotable book. I like short, concentrated books, that don't waste too much time on repetitions and smalltalk. Mr. Pryce-Tannatt is a writer just after my heart, when it comes to that. He does not beat around the bush and talk in length about things that don't concern the subject.