While there are many courses and tutorials online, learning from a book is still one of the best ways to greatly improve your skills. Below I have selected top Fly Tying books.
- The Orvis Fly-Tying Guide (2019)
- Essential Trout Flies: 50 Indispensable Patterns with Step-by-Step Instructions for 300 Most Useful Variations (2017)
- The Orvis Guide to Beginning Fly Tying: 101 Tips for the Absolute Beginner (Orvis Guides) (2012)
- Fly Pattern Encyclopedia: Over 1600 of the Best Fly Patterns (Federation of Fly Fishers) (2000)
- Essential Fly Patterns for Lakes and Streams: Tips for Tying Your Own Flies (2019)
- The Best Bass Flies: How to Tie and Fish Them (2017)
- Backcountry Flies: Tying and Fishing Florida Patterns, from Swamp to Surf (2019)
- Clouser’s Flies: Tying and Fishing the Fly Patterns of Bob Clouser (2016)
- The Orvis Guide to Leaders, Knots, and Tippets: A Detailed, Streamside Field Guide To Leader Construction, Fly-Fishing Knots, Tippets and More (2018)
- Simple Flies: 52 Easy-to-Tie Patterns that Catch Fish (2015)
- Smallmouth: Modern Fly-Fishing Methods, Tactics, and Techniques (2017)
- The Orvis Fly-Tying Guide (2003)
The Orvis Fly-Tying Guide (2019)
This essential book on fly tying will teach anyone how to tie flies. All the important techniques are illustrated with color photographs, from starting the thread on the hook to whip finishing. The book lays the basic ground work by fully explaining simple tying techniques, and then progresses to detailed tying instructions for some of the most popular, modern patterns.
Essential Trout Flies: 50 Indispensable Patterns with Step-by-Step Instructions for 300 Most Useful Variations (2017)
If you fly fish, you need flies. Which ones to choose for taking trout? Here are the 50 proven, go-to patterns that every trout fly fisher should carry to catch trout almost all the time, anywhere in the world of trout streams and still waters.
The Orvis Guide to Beginning Fly Tying: 101 Tips for the Absolute Beginner (Orvis Guides) (2012)
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.
Fly Pattern Encyclopedia: Over 1600 of the Best Fly Patterns (Federation of Fly Fishers) (2000)
Simply stated, this book is a Federation of Fly Fishers’ conclave taken to the next level, a level that allows the reader to enjoy the learning and sharing in the comfort of their own home. The flies, ideas, and techniques shared herein are from the “best of the best” demonstration fly tiers North America has to offer. The tiers are the famous as well as the unknown with one simple characteristic in common; they freely share their knowledge.
Essential Fly Patterns for Lakes and Streams: Tips for Tying Your Own Flies (2019)
In Essential Fly Patterns for Lakes and Streams, Brian Smith cuts to the chase, offering the reader and fly tier more than 80 flies with recipes and instructions for each. In his third book, Smith shares the results of his more than 50 years of experimentation and research developing and refining fly patterns that are proven fish-catchers.
The Best Bass Flies: How to Tie and Fish Them (2017)
Bass fishing (largemouth, primarily) is growing in popularity around the country; it is growing really fast in western states such as Colorado, Idaho, and Nebraska due to the accessibility (public water nearby), crowding of trout streams, and new cadre of anglers that prefer alternatives to trout. Jay Zimmerman features 18 cutting-edge patterns from around the country for largemouth and smallmouth bass, explains how to fish them, and has detailed tying steps.
Backcountry Flies: Tying and Fishing Florida Patterns, from Swamp to Surf (2019)
Florida’s coastal fishing has suffered over the years, and more and more anglers are turning toward the inland waters to fish for trophy largemouth bass, peacock bass, snook, baby tarpon, cichlids, and a host of other exotic species. This book is dedicated to fly patterns for these fish and includes step-by-step instructions as well as fishing information.
Clouser’s Flies: Tying and Fishing the Fly Patterns of Bob Clouser (2016)
The story of and instructions to tie the popular and successful Clouser Deep Minnow and its variations, including Purple Darter, Clouser Crayfish, EZ Popper, Rattle Clouser, Bright Sides Minnow, and more, told by the originator himself.
The Orvis Guide to Leaders, Knots, and Tippets: A Detailed, Streamside Field Guide To Leader Construction, Fly-Fishing Knots, Tippets and More (2018)
Every fly fisher knows how crucial leader construction and knot tying are. But with continual changes in line technology, what served as effective leader and tippet connections a decade ago might not be optimal now.
Simple Flies: 52 Easy-to-Tie Patterns that Catch Fish (2015)
Sometimes the best fly is a simple one. Whether you’re a beginner looking to get started with tying or an expert looking to get back to the basics, these simple wet flies, nymphs, dry flies, and streamers will often catch fish as well as–if not better than–more complex patterns.
Smallmouth: Modern Fly-Fishing Methods, Tactics, and Techniques (2017)
Smallmouth bass swim in more streams, rivers, lakes, and reservoirs than any other gamefish, and exceptional, world-class fishing opportunities for them are found across the country, from the John Day River in Oregon to the Great Lakes, to Maine’s Penobscot. While numerous books have been written on smallmouth, this is the first book to cover the cutting-edge techniques and fly patterns being used by some of the country’s top fly fishing guides.
The Orvis Fly-Tying Guide (2003)
This essential book on fly tying will teach anyone how to tie flies. All the important techniques are illustrated with color photographs, from starting the thread on the hook to whip finishing. The book lays the basic ground work by fully explaining simple tying techniques, and then progresses to detailed tying instructions for some of the most popular, modern patterns.
Best Fly Tying Books: The Ultimate Collection
We highly recommend you to buy all paper or e-books in a legal way, for example, on Amazon. But sometimes it might be a need to dig deeper beyond the shiny book cover. Before making a purchase, you can visit resources like Library Genesis and download some fly tying books mentioned below at your own risk. Once again, we do not host any illegal or copyrighted files, but simply give our visitors a choice and hope they will make a wise decision.
Production Fly Tying
Author(s): A. K. Best
ID: 3590276, Publisher: Stackpole Books, Year: 2015, Size: 24 Mb, Format: epub
Fly-tying: an essential guide from one of the greatest instructors of all time
Author(s): Shaw, Helen
ID: 2762046, Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing, Year: 2014;2013, Size: 56 Mb, Format: epub
Charlie Craven's Basic Fly Tying
Author(s): Charlie Craven
ID: 3441661, Publisher: , Year: 2014, Size: 223 Mb, Format: epub
Please note that this booklist is not final. Some books are really chart-busters according to Washington Post, others are composed by unknown writers. On top of that, you can always find additional tutorials and courses on Coursera, Udemy or edX, for example. Are there any other relevant books you could recommend? Drop a comment if you have any feedback on the list.