Sampson, Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington; London
Publication date
April 1886
Pages
136
Followedby
Dry Fly Fishing in Theory and Practice (1889)
Floating Flies and How to Dress Them - A Treatise on the Most Modern Methods of Dressing Artificial Flies for Trout and Grayling with Full Illustrated Directions and Containing Ninety Hand-Coloured Engravings of the Most Killing Patterns Together with a Few Hints to Dry-Fly Fishermen is a fly fishing book written by Frederic M. Halford published in London in April 1886 by Sampson Low. A deluxe edition (100 copies) on large paper sold out before publication and the trade edition of 500 nearly so.[1]
Floating Flies and How to Dress Them provides an in-depth study of nearly 100 duns and spinners in the English chalk streams of Hampshire County. The book contains detailed drawings and instructions on how to create hand-made artificial flies. Included is information on types of hooks and implements to use, plus tips on dyeing materials and how to dress the flies on eyed-hooks. The book contains ten colorplates and many black and white line drawings illustrating specific techniques.
In 1894, the New York Times wrote of Floating Flies and How to Dress Them:
And now I come to books which are nothing if not practical. Of these, Mr. F. M. Halford's “Floating Flies and How to Dress Them,” and his “Dry Fly Fishing in Theory and Practice,” command the first place, as being, within certain limits, the best books on fishing with the artificial fly ever written. The limits are these. His books apply to the capture or brown trout and grayling only, salmon and sea trout being outside their purview.[2]
In 1913, Emlyn M.Gill. writing for the New York Times, said:
...when, in 1886, Mr. Halford published an important work on “Floating Flies and How to Dress Them.” he had practically a virgin field before him. His Dry-Fly Fishing in Theory and Practice,” published in 1889, became the standard work upon the subject.[3]
John Waller Hills, the noted British fly fishing historian of the early 20th century, said, "Halford is the historian of the dry fly," with his first book leading the way to the spread of dry-fly fishing across the globe.[4]
In his American Fly Fishing - A History (1987), Paul Schullery writes:
The dry-fly revolution that really got rolling with the appearance of Halford's first book, Floating Flies and How to Dress Them (1886) got plenty of attention in American books and articles.[5]
In The Fly (2001), fly fishing historian Andrew Herd discusses the influence Halford's book had on fly fishing outside England:
It is hard to state how great Halford's influence was. His name became almost synonymous with chalk stream fishing and his innovations did not go unnoticed abroad. It was Halford's work that inspired M. Albert Petit to write the book that re-introduced and popularized fly fishing in France. .... Halford was also an important influence on American fly-tying: by 1888 Floating Flies and How to Dress Them could be purchased for twelve dollars from Forest and Stream and his flies were available from William and Mills of New York in the same year.[6]
In F. M. Halford and the Dry-Fly Revolution (2002), Tony Hayter says of Floating Flies:
The response from the public to this impressive book was a first very favorable. Halford's scrapbook contains twenty-seven review notices, in which positive and gratifying adjectives abound: 'Practical, and at the same time delightfully-written', 'Thorough, clear and interesting', 'His almost unequalled experience', 'A real treat to get a book so plain and purposelike, and so beautifully got up in all respects'. The Field thought it 'something more than deeply interesting...a landmark.' The Globe wrote: 'The directions are beautifully clear, and anglers will be specially delighted with the illustrations.' Punch awarded the accolade in verse form: A capital volume, and no one will doubt it; No fisherman now should ever be without it.[7]
Paul Schullery writes in Halford on the Dry Fly (2008):
Halford's first book: Floating Flies and How to Dress Them (1886) was a concise and beautiful fly tying manual and fly pattern reference book, but contained only a brief chapter on how to actually fish with dry flies.[8]
Contents
Chapter I - On Eyed-Hooks - 1
Chapter II - On Materials and Implements For Fly Dressing. - 7
Chapter III - On Dyeing - 22
Chapter IV - To Dress Floating Flies on Eyed-Hooks - 31
Chapter V - On Artificial Flies - 75
Chapter VI - Hints To Dry-Fly Fishermen – 116
List of Coloured Plates
Crawshaw and Co.'s Special Dyes - To Face Page 30
Plate I. Olive Duns - 84
Plate II - Blue Duns and Hare's Ears - 88
Plate III - Red Spinners, Wickham’s, Indian Yellow, Little Marryat, Blue Winged Olive, Etc. - 92
Plate IV - Hackle Duns and Spinners, Badgers, Etc. - 96
Plate V - Bumbles, Red Tags, Green Insect, Etc. - 100
Plate VI - Grannom, Alder, Ants, Fisherman's Curse, Black Gnats, Etc. - 104
Halford, F. M. (1886). Floating Flies and How To Dress Them. A Treatise on the Most Modern Methods of Dressing Artificial Flies for Trout and Grayling with Full Illustrated Directions and Containing Ninety Hand-Coloured Engravings of the Most Killing Patterns Together with a Few Hints to Dry-Fly Fishermen (2nded.). London: Sampson, Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington.
Halford, F. M. (1886). Floating Flies and How To Dress Them. A Treatise on the Most Modern Methods of Dressing Artificial Flies for Trout and Grayling with Full Illustrated Directions and Containing Ninety Hand-Coloured Engravings of the Most Killing Patterns Together with a Few Hints to Dry-Fly Fishermen (1st U.S.ed.). New York: Scribner and Welford.[9]
Halford, Frederic M. (1974). Floating Flies and How to Dress Them (1974 Reprinted.). Winchester, UK: Barry Shurlock. ISBN0-903330-08-3.
Halford, Frederic M. (1993). Floating Flies and How to Dress Them (Flyfisher's Classic Library 1886 Facsimileed.). Wales, UK: Bovey Tracy.
Halford, Frederic M. (2008). Floating Flies and How to Dress Them (On-demand reprinted.). Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing, LLC. ISBN978-1-4368-4909-8.
Fly fishing is an angling technique that uses a ultralight-weight lure called an artificial fly, which typically mimics small invertebrates such as flying and aquatic insects to attract and catch fish. Because the mass of the fly lure is insufficient to overcome air resistance, it cannot be launched far using conventional gears and techniques, so specialized tackles are used instead and the casting techniques are significantly different from other forms of angling. It is also very common for the angler to wear waders, carry a hand net, and stand in the water when fishing.
Fly tying is the process of producing an artificial fly used by fly fishing anglers to catch fish. Fly tying is a manual process done by a single individual using hand tools and a variety of natural and manmade materials that are attached to a hook. Although the recent history of fly tying dates from the middle 1800s, fly tyers were engaged in tying flys since at least 200 AD.
A turle knot is a knot used while fishing for tying a hook or fly to a leader. It is named after Major William Greer Turle, a 19th-century English angler who popularized the knot but did not claim to have invented it. Turle was a contemporary of Frederic M. Halford and fished the chalkstreams of Hampshire with Halford in the late 19th century and was an early pioneer in the use of eyed hooks for fly fishing. It has sometimes, wrongly, been referred to as the turtle knot.
Dry fly fishing is an angling technique in which the lure is an artificial fly which floats on the surface of the water and does not sink below it. Developed originally for trout fly fishing.
An artificial fly or fly lure is a type of fishing lure, usually used in the sport of fly fishing. In general, artificial flies are an imitation of aquatic insects that are natural food of the target fish species the fly fishers try to catch. Artificial flies are constructed by fly tying, in which furs, feathers, thread or any of very many other materials are tied onto a fish hook.
This general annotated bibliography page provides an overview of notable and not so notable works in the English language regarding the sport of fly fishing, listed by year of first publication. Although not all the listed books are devoted exclusively to fly fishing, all these titles contain significant fly fishing content. The focus of the present page is on classic general texts on fly fishing and its history, together with notable public or university library collections dedicated to fly fishing.
Frederic Maurice Halford, pseudonym Detached Badger, was a wealthy and influential British angler and fly fishing author. Halford is most noted for his development and promotion of the dry fly technique on English chalk streams. He is generally accepted as "The Father of Modern Dry Fly Fishing". John Waller Hills, A History of Fly Fishing for Trout (1921) called Halford "The Historian of the Dry Fly".
George Edward MacKenzie Skues, usually known as G. E. M. Skues (1858–1949), was a British lawyer, writer and fly fisherman. He invented modern-day nymph fishing. This caused a controversy with the Chalk stream dry fly doctrine developed by Frederic M. Halford. His second book, The Way of a Trout with a Fly (1921) is considered a seminal work on nymph fishing. According to Andrew Herd, the British fly fishing historian, Skues:
was, without any doubt, one of the greatest trout fishermen that ever lived. His achievement was the invention of fly fishing with the nymph, a discovery that put a full stop to half a century of stagnation in wet fly fishing for trout, and formed the bedrock for modern sunk fly fishing. Skues' achievement was not without controversy, and provoked what was perhaps the most bitter dispute in fly fishing history.
Minor Tactics of the Chalk Stream and Kindred Studies is a fly fishing book written by G. E. M. Skues published in London in 1910. Minor Tactics was Skues's first book and set the stage for his ascendancy as the inventor of nymph fishing for trout.
The Way of a Trout with a Fly and Some Further Studies in Minor Tactics is a fly fishing book written by G. E. M. Skues published in London in 1921. This was Skues's second book after Minor Tactics of the Chalk Stream (1910).
A History of Fly Fishing for Trout is a fly fishing book written by John Waller Hills published in London in 1921.
A Book on Angling – Being a complete treatise on the art of angling in every branch is a work of angling literature with significant fly fishing content written by Francis Francis, angling editor to The Field and published in London in 1867 by Longmans, Green and Company.
This annotated bibliography is intended to list both notable and not so notable works of English language, non-fiction and fiction related to the sport of fly fishing listed by year published. Although 100% of any book listed is not necessarily devoted to fly fishing, all these titles have significant fly fishing content. Included in this bibliography is a list of species related fly fishing literature.
This annotated bibliography is intended to list both notable and not so notable works of English language, non-fiction and fiction related to the sport of fly fishing listed by year published. Although 100% of any book listed is not necessarily devoted to fly fishing, all these titles have significant fly fishing content. Included in this bibliography is a list of fly tying, fly tackle, regional guides, memoirs, stories and fly fishing fiction related literature.
Dry-Fly Fishing in Theory and Practice (1889) is British author and angler Frederic M. Halford's second and most influential book on dry fly fishing. It followed Floating Flies and How to Dress Them (1886) and this pair of books initiated some 40 years of a rigid, and sometimes dogmatic school, the Halfordian school, of dry fly fishing, especially on English chalk streams. The work also played a significant role in the development of dry-fly fishing in America.
George Selwyn Marryat was a country gentleman and British angler most noted for his relationship with F. M. Halford, Francis Francis and the development of dry-fly fishing on the chalk streams of southern England. Upon his death in 1896, he became known as the "Prince of Fly Fishers".
The Fly-Fisher's Entomology, Illustrated by Coloured Representations of the Natural and Artificial Insect and Accompanied by a Few Observations and Instructions Relative to Trout-and-Grayling Fishing, first published in 1836 by Alfred Ronalds (1802–1860), was the first comprehensive work related to the entomology associated with fly fishing. Although the work was Ronalds' only book, it was published in 11 editions between 1836 and 1913 and has been extensively reprinted in the last 100 years.
Fly Fishing, first published in 1899 by English author and diplomat Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon (1862–1933), is a book about fly fishing English chalk streams and spate rivers for trout and salmon. It includes reminisces about the author's fly fishing experiences on Hampshire rivers. The book was in print for nearly 50 years and has been extensively reprinted in the 21st century.
The Alexandra wet fly is an artificial fly. Also known as the Lady of the Lake, the fly was named by English angler Major William Greer Turle to honour Alexandra, Princess of Wales. The fly is distinguished by the heavy peacock herl wing and silver body which makes the fly resemble a small baitfish or fry. The Alexandra proved to be a very effective fly for trout in lakes and streams in England and Scotland in the late 19th and early 20th century. Many fly fishing purists derided the fly and its use was once banned on many English waters.
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