Intimate glimpse behind Gierach's vise focuses on the trout flies he has found most successful & how he ties them. How he developed as a fly tyer - from a hopeless tinkerer to settling on a large handful of favorite patterns that now catch most of his trout. Explores the tools Gierach uses for tying & makes a case for the use of natural materials. Includes the flies themselves - small, medium, & large mayflies, spinners, midges, caddis, hoppers, nymphs, & streamers. Laced with fishing stories & observations on days astream as well as days at his vise, all in Gierach's inimitable style. B&W illus t/out; 6x9 inches, 192 pgs.

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Few anglers will skip knowing what a master angler and thinker prefers for his bly box. Covers a gamut of patterns essential to trout fishing in a variety of circumstances: dry flies, wet flies and nymphs, and streamers.

This intimate glimpse behind John Gierach’s vise focuses on the trout flies he has found most successful and how he ties them. There are chapters on how he developed as a fly tyer—from being a hopeless tinkerer who tried every pattern there was to settling on a large handful of favorite patterns that now catch most of his trout. Gierach explores the tools he uses for his tying and advocates those that are simple and basic (and few), and he also makes a case for the use of natural materials. Then there are cogent chapters on the flies themselves—small, medium, and large mayflies (which is how he arranges them in his fly boxes), spinners, midges, caddis, hoppers, nymphs, and streamers.

Throughout, the book is punctuated with fishing stories and observations on days a stream as well as 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, and that special down-home style that has made him America’s favorite fly-fishing author. No John Gierach fan will want to miss this delightful little book on the heart of all fly fishing: the fly.

WHAT THE EXPERTS ARE SAYING:
“If Mark Twain were alive and a modern-day fly fisherman, he still would be hard put to top John Gierach.” --Sports Illustrated

“Gierach’s skill lies in turning maddening frustration into fun.” --USA Today

PRAISE FOR JOHN GIERACH
“Gierach writes with more knowledge and more humor about all the joys, vicissitudes, horrors, and hallelujahs of pursuing fish than almost anyone else laboring at the craft today.” --John Nichols

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
John Gierach is the author of eleven books, including the famous Trout Bum and such other popular titles as The View from Rat Lake, Where The Trout Are All As Long As Your Leg, Fishing Bamboo, and the recent Standing in a River Waving a Stick. He is a columnist for both Sports Afield and Fly Rod & Reel, and his work has appeared in Field & Stream, Fly Fisherman, Gray’s Sporting Journal, and most other national outdoor magazines. He lives in Lyons, Colorado.