In article . com, Da
wrote:

I want to buy some books about
England flies. Could you please recommend some good books. I have
bought 7 books from the USA and I would like to know the differences
between the two regions. Thanks in advance.

I'm probably the wrong person to ask about that aspect - anyone else here
have any suggestions?

For my 'traditional' ie. trout and salmon, fly fishing I do tie a few
(approximated) traditional patterns 'though the nondescript 'small brown and
boring', generic Wickhan / GRHE / Pheasant Tail variants I produce might
not follow the exact pattern. For us 'small' is about #14 down to #18. below
that is 'tiny'.

If you really want to know the roots of the differences then entomology
textbooks might be the best place to start. I understand that the Americas
have fewer of the large mayflies but a greater range of smaller species,
there are different sedge flies and damsel flies for example. It is natural
that the imitations of these different flies will themselves be different.

Much of my flyfishing is not traditional - coarse and sal****er fish
(slightly OT here, sorry) require a slightly different set of patterns.
Here too the variation in the food forms that are imitated drives the
different tyings. On UK shores for example, sal****er ffing is taking off
in a big way and many are using patterns from the USA. Some of these work
well: a small, fleeing, fish is a small, fleeing, fish after all. Others
don't work well on the other side of the Atlantic. I recently saw some
video footage of feeding tarpon and instantly realised why some apparently
deadly tarpon lures don't seem to work over here - we don't have a large
predator that specialises in the slow glide, short turn and snap approach of
a tarpon** - though bass will pull off the last part if surprised. We do have
more of the 'lurk in kelp and ambush' type of fish so weed defeating
patterns are more useful here.

See the drift?

You're right to ask. Learning how other anglers have solved problems around
the world -will- eventually improve your own fishing.

Which fly patterns do you find yourself using most of the time and why?

Cheerio,

** We do have some small ones from the same family but herrings and
pilchards will snap at a small, bare hook in any case - probably mistaking
it for pin-fry or small crustacea.

--
Fishing: http://www.fishing.casterbridge.net/
Writing: http://www.author.casterbridge.net/derek-moody/
uk.rec.fishing.game Badge Page:
http://www.fishing.casterbridge.net/urfg/