Wild fly fishings "must reads"

[ColinM]

P.S. Anything by John Gierach

[Roobarb]

Another vote for Negley Farson's Going Fishing, not a how to do it book by any means but a good read.

A Man May Fish by T. C. Kinsmill Moore is one of the best angling books ever written IMO. It has a good mix of thought and instruction (mainly but not totally about lough fishing) as well as talking much sense about fly design and the reasons behind it. He may not have had DHE's, Sedgehogs or Klinks but his thoughts and observations about wet flies (both river & lough) still hold true. Anyone going to fish wild trout or sea trout lochs or loughs anywhere should read him. But it isn't just about how to fish but also the countryside and the people that he fished with.

At the loch of the green Corrie is one I always recommend, it’s about fishing and Norman McCaig and the assynt area. It’s not strictly a fishing book but it struck a chord with me.

Oh it was utter dross!!!!!!!!! I couldn't finish it, I lost the will to read about half way through. It did seem to be universally lauded though so I guess I'm just a philistine.



Andy

[Lochan_load]

Too many big words      I can see it’s not for everyone it’s a bit of a chin strokey, wanky read but I really enjoyed it  It’s where I got my tag line from ⬇️

[Roobarb]

Too many big words   

I struggle with anything that doesn't have pictures on every page


Another one I liked from a bygone age was Fly Fishing by Viscount Grey. Again it is more about being there and the whole experience. It is also interesting to look back on the catches of yesteryear both the trout and the salmon.

If you really want to depress yourself go and read the Art of Sea Trout Fishing by Charles McLaren. The tales of big catches and big sea trout which were commonplace really hammers home just how bad things are up the west coast. It is also a very good no nonsense work on how to go about fishing lochs for sea trout. It's just a pity there are so few places to go and do it now.


Andy

[keithfish]

Come fishing with me ,peter stone .
Not fly fishing but a great read, unfortunately lost my copy moving house ,still upsets me thinking about it.

[corsican dave]

Come fishing with me ,peter stone .
Not fly fishing but a great read, unfortunately lost my copy moving house ,still upsets me thinking about it.

a bit off subject, but i should never have given away my copy of gravel pit angling by peter stone. superbly written. fishing in earnest by fred j taylor is in a similar vein

[corsican dave]

gravel pit angling was SO good, i just went and bought another copy 

[Part-time]

Two books I enjoy, and I think I originally heard about them on here, are "Fisher in the Hills" by Robin Ade and "Fishing A Highland Stream" by John Inglis Hall. Another I like (which might be a local/self publication) is "Of Fish and Men - Tales of a Scottish Fisher", particularly as the author writes a lot about his fishing in Caithness & Sutherland.

I'd very much second some of the other suggestions; the "Pursuit of Stillwater Trout is a thought provoking book and, although much of the writing is about the authors experiences on reservoirs, you can apply what's written to pretty much any kind of fishing/fly fishing. "The Trout & The Fly" (Clarke & Goddard) and really captured my imagination when I first read first as a youngster; the underwater photos of flies, leaders and fly lines are worth getting the book for alone. It will also want to make you tie your dry flies upside down

You can't go wrong with Gierach, Rangeley-Wilson (..ain't got DEET, ain't got shit... ) or the Bob Wyatt books.   

[rannoch raider]

I really enjoyed and was inspired by 'Angling on Lomond' by Bill McEwan a renowned Loch Lomond fisher. An informative read and well written in a lovely style. A must read for anyone who intends to fish 'The Lomond' and for those who want to know what we once had on our doorstep and are steadily losing bit by bit, year after year.

[rannoch raider]

More inspirational stuff, this time from Bill Currie in 'Days and nights of Game Fishing'. I must have read that book a dozen times when I was about 13 years old. It introduced me to one of Currie's favourite patterns the 'Dark Mackerel'. So taken with tales of this flies ability to charm fish, I fished it constantly and in the most inappropriate places at the most ridiculous times and so confident was I that this fly could not fail, it seldom did! I still fish it to this day!