This general annotated bibliography page provides an overview of notable and not so notable works in the English language regarding the sport of fly fishing, listed by year of first publication. Although not all the listed books are devoted exclusively to fly fishing, all these titles contain significant fly fishing content. The focus of the present page is on classic general texts on fly fishing and its history, together with notable public or university library collections dedicated to fly fishing.
Annotations may reflect descriptive comments from the book's dust jacket, third party reviews or personal, descriptive and qualitative comments by individuals who have read the book. Some older works have links to online versions in the Internet Archive or Google Books.
Western Libraries holds an extensive collection of printed materials on the history and literature of fly fishing. Numbering more than 2,500 titles and dating back to the origin of the genre in seventeenth-century England, the materials support the study of not only the development of this sport, but also its relationship to nature writing, art, ecology, conservation, and even the history of printing and publishing. The collection includes books, periodicals, manuscripts, photographs, artworks, oral histories, and fly fishing artifacts.[2]
The Kienbusch Collection at Princeton University contains some of the most extraordinary gems in the history of angling literature. There are about 1500 books and manuscripts in all, representing the collective wisdom of five centuries of angling writers, from Berners to Bergman and beyond ....[3]
The Kenneth H. Rockey Angling Collection, Princeton University Library
... the Daniel B. Fearing collection, one of the largest and most important (if also little known) pools of texts, manuscripts and journalson angling, fish culture, fisheries and whaling logs in the world.
— Darin S. Kinsey, An Angler's Literary Paradise (2007)[4]
The Library of the University of British Columbia has an excellent collection of books on angling and fly-fishing, known as the Harry Hawthorn Collection. At present it totals more than 2200 books, including many rare and valuable items. This Collection came about as the result of a fishing holiday in 1953 by eight UBC professors and Roderick Haig-Brown at Upper Campbell Lake.
The Milne Angling Collection includes a large number of volumes that represent the very beginnings of angling literature. Dame Juliana Berners' A Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle (1496) is considered the first book on the subject printed in England. Although some question her authorship, Berners, who was prioress of the Benedictine abbey of Sopwell, occupies a similar place in angling literature to that accorded Chaucer in English literature. The Milne Collection contains several editions of Berners' work dating from the 1827 William Pickering edition to modern versions, such as the one published in John McDonald's Quill Gordon (1972).
Since our beginnings in the late Nineteenth Century, the MSU Libraries has striven to develop a world–class research collection in support of the academic goals of our university, including those of local interest with national and international resonance. Sixty years of research on fish and fisheries has given MSU a strong tradition on which to build the nation's preeminent trout and salmonid collection. Not only does the collection support this world–class research, but it is a focal point of local and regional pride for those who care about the salmonid species’ well being and about the waters that flow through this region. Housed in the MSU Libraries’ Merrill G. Burlingame Special Collections, this collection is open to the public for use on the premises in a controlled archival environment.
Contains the following notable collections:
Strung, Norman (Literary manuscripts and correspondence, 1966–1982)
Although it was once regarded as the source from which all later works on fly fishing sprang, the Treatyse can now, more correctly, be regarded as a British text on fly fishing which happens to have survived, although its status as the earliest English printed book on fishing means that it remains hugely influential.
Dennys, John (1652). The Secrets of Angling. London: John Harrison. The Secrets of Angling contains the first known illustration of an artificial fly.[6] Denny's book was reprinted extensively in the 19th century.
Walton, Izaak (1653). The Compleat Angler. London. Izaak Walton did not profess to be an expert with the fly; the fly fishing in his first edition was contributed by Thomas Barker, a retired cook and humorist, who produced a treatise of his own in 1659. In the last edition a second part was added by his friend Charles Cotton, who took up Venator where Walton had left him and completed his instruction in fly fishing and the making of flies.
He makes mention of the multiplying reel, the first time we hear of it, but evidently not unknown before his day. In the second part of the book, which has the special title The Complete Fly-fisher, he describes the dressing of many flies and their killing powers. Upon the whole, it is a practical and sensible work.
Taylor, Samuel (1800). Angling in All Its Branches. London: T. M. Longman and O'Kees. Angling in All Its Branches was one of the first works to address Fly fishing for Salmon and tying salmon flies. Taylor was the first fly fishing author to mention the use of a fly tying vice.[7]
Bainbrige, George Cole (1811). The Fly-fishers Guide. London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green & Longman. Bainbridge was one of the first authors to use color plates and The Fly Fisher's Guide contains numerous plates showing fly patterns, materials and tying techniques.[7]
Rennie, James (1833). Alphabet of Scientific Angling for use of Beginners(PDF). London: William Orr. Dr. Andrew Herd credits Rennie with being the first author to describe the complicated methods of producing fly hooks in the 19th century.[10]
Ronalds, Alfred (1836). The Fly Fisher's Entomology(PDF). London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green and Longmans. this 231 page, well illustrated treatment of British stream insects of importance to the trout and grayling angler laid the foundation for the detailed works on artificial fly imitation theory that followed for the next 100 years, see also The Fly-fisher's Entomology and Alfred Ronalds.[11][12]
As John Waller Hills says in Fly Fishing for Trout, "Its excellence lies in three features: the directions for fly fishing including one of the early recommendations of upstream fishing, the directions for fly dressing, and the knowledge shewn of the life of the natural fly, which is in advance of anything that had appeared before"
Thaddeus Norris, who Arnold Gingrich called the American Walton, is widely regarded as the most important American angling author of the nineteenth century. His American Angler's Book, first published in 1864, lasted far longer that most modern fishing books seem to, and was a monument of practical instruction
— Paul Schullery, The American Fly Fisher, 1980.[16]
Taylor, J. Paul (1898). Fishing and Fishers(PDF). London: Ward, Lock and Company, Limited.
Grey of Fallodon, Viscount (1899). Fly Fishing(PDF). London: The Temple Press. a readable but comprehensive discussion of wet fly, dry fly, sea-trout and salmon fly fishing written in an easy, story-telling style. See also Fly Fishing (Grey book)[19] An angling classic[20]
Fly-fishing history, bibliographies and literature reviews
His history is suspect, at best. Westwood and Sachell, in their milestone Bibliotheca Piscatoria (1883), give the following opinions of Historical Sketches: "A slip-shod and negligent work, devoid of all real utility. A mere farrago of matter relevant and irrelevant, of indiscriminate sweepings from miscellaneous sources, of quotations incorrectly given and of so-called original passages the vaqueness and uncertainty of which rob them of all weight and value. Names and dates are seldom given, or are inaccurately...." They go on to catalog a few of the grosser errors and conclude that the book's only value is in its excellent bibliography, which, as we will see, also has its problems.
— Paul Schullery, The American Fly Fisher, 1985.[21]
Smith, John Russell (1861). A Bibliographical Catalogue of English Writers on Angling and Ichthyology. London: Tucker & Company.
Albee, Louise Rankin (1896). Justin Winsor (ed.). The Bartlett Collection – A List of Books on Angling, Fishes and Fish Culture in Harvard University Library. Cambridge, Miss.: Harvard University Library.
20th century
Hills, John Waller (1921). A History of Fly Fishing for Trout(PDF). London: Phillp Allan & Co. Dr. Andrew Herd credits Hill with the first attempt to codify the history of fly fishing, albeit Hill's work shows a distinctly British bias and disregard for other European influences. See also A History of Fly Fishing for Trout[7]
Goodspeed, Charles E. (1939). Angling in America – Its Early History and Literature. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Robb, James (1945). Notable Angling Literature. London: Herbert Jenkins Limited.
Starkman, Susan B.; Read, Stanley E. (1970). The Contemplative Man's Recreation: A Bibliography of Books on Angling and Game Fish in the Library of The University of British Columbia. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada: The Library of the University of British Columbia. contains a Chronological Appendix Indicating Landmarks in the Evolution of Angling Literature and Some Prefatory Matters Pertaining to the History of The Harry Hawthorn Foundation for the Inculcation and Propagation of the Principles and Ethics of Fly-Fishing. Contains illustrations.[22]
McDonald, John (1972). Quill Gordon. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN0394469895.
Gingrich, Arnold (1973). The Joys of Trout. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc. ISBN0517505843. listed as one of the modern "classics" of angling in the University of New Hampshire Library Milne Angling Collection[23]
Gingrich, Arnold (1974). The Fishing In Print – A Guided Tour Through Five Centuries of Angling Literature. New York: Winchester Press. Gingrich, the well known founding editor of Esquire magazine surveys the major pieces of classic and modern fly fishing literature up through the 1950s. It is an excellent read to get a better understanding of the evolution of the various styles of fly fishing—wet, nymphs, dry, etc. as originally written about by the likes of Halford, Skues, Gordon and Jennings along with many others.
Arnold Gingrich, founding editor of Esquire magazine, is a tremendous part of the literary history of fly fishing. The Fishing In Print, The Joys of Trout, and The Well-Tempered Angler are indispensable titles to the well-read fly fisherman of today.
— Glenn Law, A Concise History of Fly Fishing, 1995.[24]
Waterman, Charles F. (1981). A History of Angling. Tulsa, Oklahoma: Winchester Press. ISBN0876913435.
Sheets, K. A. (1993). American Fishing Books – A Guide to Values. Ann Arbor, MI: Anglers and Scholars. an alphabetical, by author, list of over 2000 titles of American published fishing books with values for collectable copies estimated by the author.
Schullery, Paul (1996). American Fly Fishing – A History. Norwalk, CT: The Easton Press. sponsored by the American Museum of Fly Fishing, Manchester, CT, when Paul Schullery was the managing director, Fly Fishing – A History is probably the most contemporary and complete treatise on the evolution of fly fishing as it is known today.[25][26]
Schwiebert, Ernest (1998). The Henryville Flyfishers – A Chronicle of American Fly Fishing. Far Hills, N.J.: Meadow Run Press. ISBN1886967083. a notable account by Ernest Schwiebert and one of the seminal books on American Fly Fishing clubs.[27]
Schullery, Paul (1999). Royal Coachman – The Lore and Legends of Fly-Fishing. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN0684842467. while giving due respect to the elders of Fly-Fishing history, Schullery celebrates some lesser-known fisherman and some seldom-appreciated waters, such as the limestone streams of Pennsylvania. He muses on the pursuit of the ever-more perfectly "natural" fly and contrasts that quest with the storied success of the Royal Coachman, perhaps the gaudiest fly ever invented.[28]
Bark, Conrad Vos (1996). The Dry Fly – Progress Since Halford. Ludlow, UK: Merlin Unwin Books. ISBN1873674228.
21st century
Herd, Andrew Dr (2001). The Fly. Ellesmere, Shropshire: Medlar Press. ISBN1899600191.
Nemes, Sylvester (2004). Two centuries of soft-hackled flies – A survey of literature complete with original patterns. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books. ISBN0811700488.
Schullery, Paul (2008). If Fish Could Scream – An Angler's Search For The Future of Fly Fishing. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books. ISBN978-0811704359.
In seven essays sometimes controversial, sometimes reflective, all fascinating, Paul Schullery ruminates on the evolution of fly fishing and delves into the big issues affecting the world of fly fishing today and tomorrow. Dams’ effect on fishing, the supposed cruelty of catch-and-release, competition among fly fishers, spinning versus fly fishing, and how transportation has changed the sport are just a few of the topics he covers.
Greenhalgh, Malcolm; Jason Smalley (2009). Fishing Flies: A World Encyclopedia of Every Type of Fly. London: Harper Collins Publishers. ISBN978-0007288458.
Black, William C. (2010). Gentlemen Preferred Dry Flies – The Dry Fly and The Nymph, Evolution and Conflict. Albuquerque, N.M.: University of New Mexico Press. ISBN978-0826347954.
Whitelaw, Ian (2015). The History of Fly-Fishing in Fifty Flies. New York: Stewart, Tabori and Chang. ISBN978-1617691461.
Biographies
Day, Frank Parker (1927). The Autobiography of a Fisherman. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page and Company. in 1927, celebrated Canadian author Frank Parker Day wrote his autobiographical reflections on fishing, family, and, more broadly, humanity's place in the natural world. The Autobiography of a Fisherman, a Canadian fly-fishing classic, is a wonderful recollection of one man's life, with characters struggling in a depressed economy, contending with the social pressures of local village life, and responding in one way or the other to the pull of the big city. Day details his early introduction to fishing, which becomes a lifelong passion, at once a 'gentle art' and a 'disease'.[30]
Benn, Ernest (1977). G. E. M. Skues – The Way of a Man with a Trout. London: Ernest Benn. ISBN0510225063.
Hilyard, Graydon; Hilyard, Leslie (2000). Carrie G. Stevens, Maker of the Rangeley Favorite Trout and Salmon Flies. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. ISBN0811703533.
Hayter, Tony (2002). F.M. Halford and the Dry-Fly Revolution. London: Rober Hale. ISBN0709067739. the first definitive biography of the father of dry fly fishing, Frederic M. Halford.[31]
Berryman, Jack W. (2006). Fly-Fishing Pioneers and Legends of the Northwest. Seattle, WA: Northwest Fly Fishing LLC. ISBN978-0977945405.
Kreh, Lefty (2008). My Life Was This Big: And Other True Fishing Tales. Skyhorse Publishing. ISBN978-1602393592. – autobiography of Lefty Kreh
Lawton, Terry (2010). Marryat – Prince of Fly Fishers. Ellesmere, Shropshire, UK: Medlar Press. ISBN978-1899600489.
Herd, Andrew (2010). Angling Giants – Anglers Who Made History. Ellesmere, Shropshire, UK: Medlar Press. ISBN978-1899600601.
Freer, Adrian V W (2019). Dr Bell of Wrington: Pioneer of Reservoir Fly Fishing. Leicester, UK: Welford Court Press. ISBN978-1798530146.
Gingrich, Arnold (1965). The Well Tempered Angler. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. more on the fishing life than how to, but much information about light tackle fly fishing from the founding editor of Esquire. Contains useful bibliographic references to other fly fishing literature.[32]
Slaymaker II, S. R. (1969). Simplified Fly Fishing. New York: Harper & Row Publishers. a general treatise on the basics of freshwater, warmwater and saltwater fly fishing and tackle.
Sam Slaymaker is a 'complete' a fly fisherman as we have, and despite his profession of simplification, he hasn't held back one iota of his own sophisticated practice of writing in this book
Latham, Roger; Bashline, James; Chandler, Leon; DuBois, Donald; Elliot, Bob; Green, Larry; Harvey, George; McNally, Tom; Sosin, Mark; Waterman, Charles (1972). There's No Fishing Like Fly Rod Fishing – The Cortland Series. New York: Richard Rosen's Press Inc. ISBN082390248X. a compendium of articles by top fly fishing experts on the various aspects of freshwater, warmwater and saltwater fly fishing and tackle. Sponsored by the Cortland Line Company.
Hidy, V. S. Pete (1972). The Pleasures of Fly Fishing. New York: Winchester Press. ISBN0876910398. a beautiful compilation of vignettes on fly fishing accompanied by excellent photography of fly fishing experiences.[34]
Kreh, Lefty (1991–1996). Lefty's Little Library of Fly Fishing. Birmingham, Alabama: Odysseus Editions. this is a twenty-five volume set published by Kreh and other authors covers almost every aspect of the sport of fly fishing. Contains the following titles:
^Rhead, Louis. A Collection of Bookplate Designs. Boston: W. Porter Truesdell. p. 23.
^Western Washington University Libraries Special Collections. "The Fly Fishing Collection". Retrieved 10 October 2018.
^Merritt, J. I. (Summer 1980). "The Kienbusch Collection". The American Fly Fisher. 7 (3): 3.
^Kinsey, Darin S. (Fall 2007). "An Angler's Literary Paradise"(PDF). The American Fly Fisher. Manchester, Vermont: The American Museum of Fly Fishing. 33 (4): 16–17. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2014-11-29. Retrieved 2014-11-16.
^Herd, Andrew Dr (2001). The Fly. Ellesmere, Shropshire: Medlar Press. p. 43. ISBN1899600191.
^Leonard, J. Edson (1950). Flies – Their origin, natural history, tying, hooks, patterns and selections of dry and wet flies, nymphs, streamers, salmon flies for fresh and salt water in North America and the British Isles, including a Dictionary of 2200 Patterns. New York: A.S. Barnes and Company. p. 33.
^ abcdHerd, Andrew Dr (2001). The Fly. Ellesmere, Shropshire: Medlar Press. ISBN1899600191.
^Herd, Andrew Dr (2001). The Fly. Ellesmere, Shropshire: Medlar Press. p. 204. ISBN1899600191.
^Robb, James (1945). Notable Angling Literature. London: Herbert Jenkins Limited. p. 94.
^Herd, Andrew Dr (2001). The Fly. Ellesmere, Shropshire: Medlar Press. p. 88. ISBN1899600191.
^Schullery, Paul (1996). American Fly Fishing – A History. Norwalk, Conn.: The Easton Press. p. 85.
^Schullery, Paul (2006). Reading The Rise – Streamside Observations on Trout, Flies and Fly Fishing. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books. p. 37.
^MacKenzie, N. A. M., I Went A-Fishing – A Most Informal Foreword in Starkman, Susan B.; Read, Stanley E. (1970). The Contemplative Man's Recreation: A Bibliography of Books on Angling and Game Fish in the Library of The University of British Columbia. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada: The Library of the University of British Columbia. p. 7.
^Schullery, Paul (Summer 1985). "America's "Lost" Angling Books: Robert Blakey's Tantalizing References to Early American Fishing Books". The American Fly Fisher. 12 (3): 22–25.
