The act of deceiving a fish has beguiled mankind such that it became an art form passed down the millennia. When considering angling's rich history, all anglers eventually wonder how we ever managed to fish without graphite rods, synthetic lines, and nylon leaders. But up until only the past few decades, we have gone a-fishing solely with a variety of painstakingly handcrafted devices constructed of natural materials: hand-wrought steel hooks, carefully selected furs and feathers, gut leaders, furled horsehair lines, and wooden loop-rods lashed together.
In The Fly-Fisher's Craft, noted angling author Darrel Martin brings his decades of research, hundreds of color photographs, and years of experimentation to bear on the fascinating evolution of fly fishing contrivances, from the practical to the fanciful, from the dawn of written history until today. Martin shows where these technologies were first documented, why they came to be, and details how even today we can burnish our own handmade hooks, furl a horsehair leader, and fashion a functioning rod from readily available wood. He also documents the intriguing art and evolution of fly tying in particular detail, from the earliest documented methods and materials to some of today's most modern patterns, which still inevitably draw on the pedigree of their ancient forebears. What's more, all of these natural marvels still work today, just as they did when Izaak Walton retired to compose his classic treatise, The Compleat Angler. In The Fly-Fisher's Craft, we discover that everything old is new again, that good ideas never die, and that the surprising sophistication and wisdom of those who came before has never been more relevant fortoday's practitioners of the gentle art of fly fishing.


An artificial fly may be little more than a bit of fur or feather, bead, tinsel, and thread wrapped around the shank of a fishing hook, but for many fly fishers, there is no better way to pass the time between fishing excursions than crafting one of these miniature gems. In The Fly Fisher's Craft, veteran fly tyer and designer Darrel Martin examines fly design and tying techniques, both historic and modern.
The Fly Fisher's Craft returns to our angling origins with chapters on constructing antique lines, hooks, and loop rods--all simply made with basic tools and knowledge. It also follows the silk wraps of the early tyers to reveal their craft and cunning. Here are Barker and Cotton, Venables and Stewart, Halford and Skues, along with many other esteemed tyers of the past. And it presents the author's modern patterns inspired by that past. Abundant photographs and illustrations by the author guide you on this enthralling journey, told with some surprises along the way.
Sure to appeal to both the novice and the expert, The Fly Fisher's Craft is a book for the curious and creative fly fisher.