Collins Illustrated Dictionary of Trout Flies

by John Roberts

A reference work on trout fly patterns for all fly fishermen, whether on river or stillwater. It includes samplers from over 40 of the world's most famous fly-tiers, and gives in-depth advice on fly tying and fishing methods.

240 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1995

Reviews

[Justin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one I just don't connect with. It's a great collection of recipes, with maybe 1000 patterns, and includes work by some great tiers. Just in the "W" section we get Whitlock, Wotton, and Wulff (and then throw in LaFontaine, Ruane, etc.).

So it's a great compendium, but that's it. There's not much instruction here, or instruction on how to fish the patterns. So I'm sort of criticizing it for being something it didn't mean to be, I admit.

It's also a bit British for my purposes, whether it's the certain terminology or certain patterns that just seem culturally off to me.

One oddity about using the book (though this is wise in terms of price and) is that the pictures of patterns are separate from the recipes, with a set of full-color plates in the middle of the book. It takes some flipping to see exactly what you're looking at and how to make it. But this is a reference volume, not an instructional manual. It's just not one that really does it for me.