An avid fly tyer of classic salmon flies we thought it only right that Duncan Raynor reviews Farlows Salmon Flies
What an incredible book; the hours and hours of painstaking research that must have gone into its creation are mind boggling. Farlows is a name that most fly fishers will have heard of, a powerhouse of the tackle trade. The book is a modern record of some 600 flies that make up their catalogue of patterns.
It is based on two reference books that were maintained by Farlows to keep a record of the flies they sold. This helped in a number of ways: firstly, they had a standard dressing to base future tyings on and also there was a historical record of what materials were in the flies. They even had dressings for individual customers and variations of dressings for some flies. The pattern books still exist, the flies are attached to paper sheets and held in place and are numbered and named. They include dressings used between 1888 and 1914. Reading the forward will give you an idea of the task undertaken in putting together such a project.
Pete handed me this hefty book to read and review with a gleam in his eye, he knew how much I would enjoy it. It is a book that someone as mad about fly tying as me will love. It will also appeal to the fly fishing historians amongst us; there are some interesting names of flies, named after our salmon fishing forefathers, some after rivers, pools or beats and some after famous ghillies.
The book contains detailed photographs of most of the flies, which have given me hours of enjoyment. I find myself flicking through them in wonder, the tying skill used to create them is something I aspire to.
It is a beautiful book and an incredible reference , not only for the present but for the future too. I have really enjoyed reading it and tying some of the patterns too.
Buy Farlows Salmon Flies from Coch-Y Bondhu Books
