Good Flies - by John Gierach (Hardcover)

About the Book

The favorite fly patterns of one of the country's top angling writers, revised and updated.

Book Synopsis

John Gierach is a highly trusted and trustable opinion-maker in fly-fishing. People take what he says to the bank. While most of Gierach's writing is essay-style and reflective, here he gets down to the nitty-gritty: how he ties his favorite flies and why he thinks they work so well for him. There is, thus, an instant reader connection: "Gierach's patterns are good enough for me."
Few anglers will skip knowing what a master angler and thinker prefers for his fly box. This title covers a gamut of patterns essential to trout fishing in a variety of circumstances: dry flies, wet flies and nymphs, and streamers. Gierach's legion of fans of his regular magazine column will be highly inclined to buy this title.

From the Back Cover

In this intriguing look at his many hours at the tying bench, John Gierach focuses on the trout flies he has found most successful and tells how he ties them. He began as a hopeless tinkerer who tried to tie every pattern in existence, but eventually settled on a large handful of favorite patterns - good flies - with which he catches most of his trout. Gierach analyzes the tools he uses for tying and advocates those patterns that are simple and basic (and few), and he also makes his case for the use of natural materials. He then goes on to discuss the flies themselves - small, medium, and large mayfly imitations (which is how he arranges them in his fly boxes), spinners, midges, caddis, hoppers, nymphs, and streamers.Good Flies is enriched with fishing stories and observations from days astream and days at his vise, all in Gierach's inimitable style: rambling a little, following this thread and that, always full of wit and deft experience, with a plain-spoken style that has made him America's favorite fly-fishing author. Every John Gierach fan will appreciate this delightful book, and every trout angler can base a successful approach to the fish on what the author offers here.

About the Author

John Gierach is the great sage of American fly fishing, an idiosyncratic philosopher whose commentaries on angling are explorations of the meaning of life. He is also one of the most widely read angling writers in the country, mainly through his monthly columns in Fly Rod & Reel. But his great books--Trout Bum, Standing in a River Waving a Stick, and Sex, Death and Fly Fishing, among others--continue to attract new and younger readers. For many fly fishers, he is the voice of their sport. He lives in Lyons, Colorado.