Sprinkled in between the fly dressings and tying lessons are hundreds of illustrations drawn by longtime fishing guide Doug Stewart as well as personal stories and anecdotes. These are interesting and informative?each one containing an element of knowledge or instruction that will add to your fishing success.The book's purpose is to help you become a more complete angler, a better fly tier, and a more successful fly fisher. It covers all aspects of fly fishing: casting, proper equipment, tying flies, reading water, the feeding habits of fish, and the proper strategy for fishing a stretch of river. Also included in the book are traditional and historical flies along with a selection of Doug's favorite patterns. Dressings and instructions are also presented.Doug Stewart, a lifelong fly fisher, is also a fly-tying instructor and guide and a fly shop owner, and has written about fly-fishing for The Oregon Sportsman and Amato Publications. Doug spent many years teaching customers how to fly fish during the thirty-two years he owned Stewart's Fly Shop. ?I think I get more out of teaching someone, out of seeing them be successful or catch their first fish, than I do out of catching my own,? Doug says.

FOREWORDINTRODUCTIONPART I MASTERING THE TECHNIQUESEquipment-Rods, Leaders, Fly Lines and ReelsFly Casting-The Grip, The Basic Cast, Push and Pull Method and Cures,Mending the Line and Special Casts.PART II METHODS FOR TYING AND FISHING WET FLIESHistorical Pioneers of Fly Fishing.Basic Wet Fly Instructions for tying a Leadwing Coachman, Soft Hackles andMethods of Wet Fly Fishing: The Wet Fly Swing, Upstream Dead Drifting,Downstream Long-Lining, Subsurface Swing, Upstream Retrieve and The Cross-Stream Strip.Winter Steelhead Methods-Migration, Holding Waters, Lines, Flies and LeadersSummer Steelhead Methods-Greased Line, Wet Fly Swing, Dead Drifting, Spotting Fish, Leaders, Water Types and High Sticking.Tying Streamers and Steelhead Flies-The Supervisor and Nick's Nightmare.PART III METHODS FOR TYING AND FISHING NYMPHSHistorical Pioneers of Fly Fishing.Methods-G.E.M Skues, Sawyer, Teeny, Chuck and Duck, Brooks, Leisenring Lift and Walking the Fly.Tying Nymphs: Casual Dress, Bitch Creek, Teeny Nymph and Brooks Stone.PART IV METHODS FOR TYING AND FISHING DRY FLIESHistorical Pioneers of Fly Fishing.Methods-Dapping the Fly, Recognizing Surface and Subsurface Activity.Feeding Habits: Rises, Refusals, Selectivity, Masking Hatches, Non-rising Fish and Setting the Hook.Tying Dry Flies: The Professor, Green Sedge and Royal Coachman.PART V STREAM ANATOMY, WEATHER, SENSES OF FISH AND ENTOMOLOGYRiffles, Glides, Pocket Water and PoolsWing, Rain, Barometer, High and Low Water, Hot Weather, Sun and Shadows.How Fish See and Perceive Color, The Sense of Smell, The Sense of Hearing, The Sense of Taste and Feel.Entomology: Matching Hatches, Collecting Equipment, Stream Diary and Insect Identification.PART VI SPECIAL METHODSHistory of the Pott Fly.Tools and the method to tie the Pott Fly.Practical Fishing Knots.Dropper Knots and How to Tie them.Wading Safely.Playing, Landing and Releasing Fish.PART V11 FABULOUS FLIES AND FABLESTwenty-four Proven Patterns and Selective Stories.BIBLIOGRAPHYINDEX