The Orvis Guide to Beginning Fly Tying: 101 Tips for the Absolute Beginner

This Orvis-endorsed guidebook—part of a continuing series that includes guidebooks on fly fishing basics and saltwater fly fishing—will give you all the tools you need to begin making your own flies. Learn how to read a fly recipe, choose the correct tools (including vises, bobbins, threaders, dubbing needles, and hair stackers), select the right materials (everything from dry fly saddles, threads, beads, and Krystal Flash, to hooks, wires, cements, and paints), and pick the best flies to tie first. Before you know it, you’ll be tying such flies as the Wooly Bugger, Clouser minnow, beadhead soft hackle nymphs, Adams dry fly, and Hare’s Ear nymph. You’ll also get solid advice on how to set up a well-organized fly-tying area, so you can enjoy this fascinating craft in ease and comfort. 

Fly Tyer magazine editor David Klausmeyer shares his Five Golden Rules for tying better flies. Many books say they are for beginners but then quickly turn fly tying into a series of complicated finger calisthenics. The Orvis Guide to Beginning Fly Tying really is for the reader who has never made a fly. Catch fish with flies that you’ve tied on your own, and you’ll get more enjoyment from the rich sport of fly fishing.