Introduction It is now almost 20 years since this book was first published and many developments in the world of fly-fishing and fly-tying have occurred, new flies have been introduced and new fishing techniques have been developed.
Fishing rods, reels, hooks, leader material and fly lines have been improved, adding to the enjoyment and ultimate success of fly-fishing. Fly-tiers are using more man-made materials in their fly-wing; all sorts of shimmering, glistening, and attractive tinsels, chenilles, and artificial winging mediums are employed, and some of the new flies depicted in this edition show this development. Fishing with the artificial fly in saltwater is one of the growth areas in our sport, adding a huge dimension to the gentle art of fly-fishing and fly-tying.
The practice of "catch and release" and the increased use of barbless hooks are indicative of how seriously today's fly fishermen take environmental and species protection. The world is a much smaller place and fly fishermen are seeking more adventurous fishing venues. No longer content to fish their local rivers or reservoirs, fly fishermen are hunting further afield for species they may never have caught before. This edition, however is devoted solely to flies used to catch the spotted denizen of rivers and still water, the trout.
Brown trout (Salmo trutta), originally a European and west Asian species, is found all over the world. The fish described by the Roman writer Claudius Aelianus in around AD. 200 could well be the Brown trout. He describes the method of its capture in Macedonia with the use of an artificial fly; to date, this is the first written reference to fly-fishing in literature. The Brown trout has been introduced into the rivers of the U.S. and Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe, northern India, Sri Lanka, and Australia as well as waters in Chile and Argentina. In all these countries the Brown trout now breeds naturally and is thriving.
The other common species now introduced all over the world is the Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). This fish originates from the rivers of the western seaboard of the U.S. It thrives in the rivers of New Zealand, in particular, where there were no other fish in the rivers of any consequence except small fish, which are food for the introduced species. Rainbow trout is the main fish stocked in British "put and take" fisheries due to its faster growth rate in the hatcheries; it is far cheaper to produce than the native Brown trout.
Other members of the salmon family called trout are not so well distributed worldwide as the Rainbow or Brown trout; nevertheless where they are found anglers with the artificial fly eagerly seek them. Brook trout (Salvelinus fontalis) is a species of trout, though is more accurately classified as a char. Sometimes called the Speckled trout, it s found in northern rivers of the U.S. and Canada; the record weight for this fish is over 14 lb.
Cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki),like Rainbow trout, is a creature from the western states of the U.S.; rivers such as the Yellowstone in Montana yield many fine specimens of this fish. The Cutthroat and Rainbow, when found in the same river system, can hybridize. Dolly Varden (Salvelinus malma) is another fish found in the U.S. and also in western Asia. It rarely grows over 18 in. except in the anadromous form (those fish that migrate up rivers to spawn) when it can grow to about 24 in.
Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus) has the most northern distribution of any of the salmonids and is found in the Arctic, parts of northern Europe and even one or two lakes in the British Isles. Lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) is another char from northern U.S. and northern Canada; it was found in large numbers in the Great Lakes. I have caught many fine specimens on my visits to Lake Kasba in the Northwest Territories of Canada -- up to 25 lb. on an ultra large fly, but have caught many specimens of 6-7 lb. on nymph patterns in the Kazan River. The largest rod-caught 'Laker' in Canada weighed over 70 lb.
Throughout the world there are many species and localized variants of trout and char; in northern China, Manchuria, Mongolia, and North Korea, a species called the Lenok trout (Brachymystax lenok) is found. The Marble trout (Salmo trutta marmoratus) is found in the crystal waters of Slovenia. In Bosnia there is another unique species of trout called the Soft Mouth trout (Salmothymus obtusirostris) that looks like a Brown trout but has a head like a grayling.
There are species of trout peculiar to Lake Ohrid in Macedonia and also at least two species in Lake Baikal in Siberia. In some rivers in northern Turkey another sub-species of Brown trout is found which is peculiar to that country. There are also a number of localized strains and varieties of Rainbow trout -- Golden trout and Apache trout are two such varieties. I mention these somewhat rare, esoteric fish because fly fishermen are venturing forth with their rods and flies to seek these remote spotted fish Despite all the other species of fish now sought by today's fly fishermen, the trout in its many forms remains the supreme quarry for most of us.
