Bonefish Fly Patterns Tying, Selecting, And Fishing All The Best Bonefish Flies From Today's Best Tiers

by Brown, Dick

• ISBN13: 9780762770045
• ISBN10: 076277004X
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-06-14
• Publisher: Lyons Press

Summary

This new and revised edition ofBonefish Fly Patternsis the most comprehensive collection of bonefish flies ever published, displaying fly designs from such world-class flats anglers and guides as Winston Moore, Jim Orthwein (four-time bonefish world record holder), Steve Huff, Harry Spear, Rick Ruoff, Del Brown, John Goddard, Barry and Cathy Beck, Lou Tabory, Tim Borski, Bob Clouser, Lefty Kreh, Tom McGuane, Yvon Chouinard, Jack Gartside, Carl Richards, Craig Mathews, George Anderson, and Ben Estes. The book includes 165 full-color photographs--one for each featured pattern, some published here for the first time. Each fly profile is listed with its creator's authentic recipe and tying tips. Also included are tying sequences for important patterns, a discussion of design trends, a materials glossary, and a list of sources for materials, custom flies, and off-the-shelf patterns. Dick Brown does not forget to describe fly selection for various destinations, habitats, and conditions, and to advise anglers on how to present flies and what prey they portray.

Author Biography

Dick Brown is the author of two previous Lyons Press books: Fly Fishing for Bonefish, which on its initial publication in 1992 was hailed as the bible on all things bonefish. He writes for many fishing, fly fishing, and outdoor magazines. He lives in Byfield, Massachusetts.

Table of Contents

1. Fly Characteristics 2. Profiles of 187 Flies 3. Selecting Bonefish Flies 4. Tying Sequences 5. Design Alternatives and Trends 6. Fly Materials 7. Sources

Excerpts

(from the Foreword)

 

This revised edition ofBonefish Fly Patternscontains forty-seven new flies that were not in the original 1996 edition. Some are recent patterns created by new flats anglers with fresh, inquisitive eyes—like Victor Trodella’s killer Ghost tailing fly and Omeko Glinton’s Meko Special. Others like Eric Peterson’s Spawning Shrimp, Vic Gaspeny’s Threadhead, Rick Simonsen’s Simram, and Patrick Dorsy’s Kwan and Bone Slappa are creations of skilled flats veterans willing to pass along the exact recipes of go-to favorites they’ve relied on for winning tournaments. Still others are well-known classics that I simply could not get into the original book for one reason or another—like the Horror and the Mini-Puff, which have produced on flats around the world for decades. A few new creations, like the Toad and the Slinky Toad, were developed in response to the significant findings of recent bonefish feeding studies that have established the importance of newly discovered prey forms in the diet of Florida and Bahamian bonefish—especially the gulf toadfish. Four—the Bastard Crab, Big Ugly, Merkwan, and Bunny Crab—come from Bonefish & Tarpon Trust’s Aaron Adams, who is both a marine research scientist and an avid angler. Finally, several new entries, like the Skok/Boyle Reverend Laing fly, the Bevin’s Bully Special, and Trodella’s Ghost, were driven by new tying materials and new uses of existing materials, which have enabled tiers to find novel solutions to old bonefish challenges like flash intensity and splash impact.

In addition, I’ve updated the suggested flies for different destinations, the fly pattern and materials sources in chapter 7, and the materials glossary. And I virtually rewrote the chapter on design alternatives and trends to capture the profusion of exciting new techniques and discoveries that tiers have explored to better induce that magic moment when a bonefish strikes, including: development of soft-landing, reverse-splayed carapaces of wool and hair to enable crabs to land quietly and sink fast; use of trailing-leg designs for better imitation of the paddling movements of swimming crabs; exploration of rear-facing postures in patterns to suggest the defensive stances of attacked prey; improved balancing of weight versus mass to refine control of splashdown and sink rate; creative use of new reflective materials to increase control of flash in patterns; implementation of novel dubbing techniques to soften splash profiles and better display prey translucency; and—perhaps most exciting of all—the cascade of incredibly innovative methods for incorporating better triggering elements in fly patterns to improve hook-up rates on the water.

I hope you enjoy this new edition and the fly designs of the innovative tiers who contributed to it. This is, in the end, but a showcase for their creativity. Good fishing!