Bibliography of fly fishing (species related)

(1900–1930s)

• Rhead, Louis (1902). The Speckled Brook Trout. New York: R. H. Russell.
• Riddell, J. A. (1909). All About Trout Fishing (PDF). London: The Walter Scott Publishing Co.
• Skues, G. E. M. (1910). Minor Tactics of the Chalk Stream (PDF). London: A & C Black.

One of the subtlest writers on fishing with fly in any form is G.E.M. Skues, the author of Nymph Fishing. His book Minor Tactics of the Chalk Stream, put an end to the dry-fly purist and brought the angling world back to sanity.

— James Robb, Notable Angling Literature (1945) ^[2]

• Gill, Emlyn M. (1912). Practical Dry Fly Fishing (PDF). New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
• Camp, Samuel G. (1913). Fishing with Floating Flies (PDF). New York: Outing Publishing Company.
• La Branche, George M. L. (1914). The Dry Fly and Fast Water. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.The Dry Fly and Fast Water is one of the classic works on American fly fishing. In it La Branche, a contemporary of Theodore Gordon, helped established a unique early 20th-century American approach to dry fly fishing distinctly evolved from the long-standing theories of the British angler Halford. ^{[3] [4]}
• Southard, Charles Zibeon (1914). Trout Fly-fishing in America (PDF). New York: E. P. Dutton & Co.
• Bradford, Charles (1916). The Determined Angler and the Brook Trout (PDF). New York: G. P. Putnam & Sons.
• Skues, G. E. M. (1921). The Way of a Trout with the Fly: And some further studies in minor tactics (PDF). London: Adams and Charles Black. Skues was the greatest early twentieth-century authority on nymph fishing for trout. ^{[5] [6] [7]}

This is a classic and I often wonder if Skues knew it would be when he set pen to paper. The book is inspirational in a way that Halford's work never was and grips the reader's attention right from the cover, which in the first edition bears the words: .... The Way of a Trout shows Skues at the height of his powers and it contains the best of his thinking on fishing nymphs and semi-submerged patterns, illustrated by the sort of asides, stories and vast fund of experience that only he could call upon.

— Dr. Andrew Herd ^[8]

• Rhead, Louis (1921). How To Fish The Dry Fly (PDF). Brooklyn: Louis Rhead.
• Bridgett, Robert C. (1922). Dry Fly Fishing (PDF). London: Robert Jenkins Limited.
• Dunne, J. W. (1924). Sunshine and the Dry Fly. London: Adam & Charles Black, Ltd.
• Southard, Charles Zibeon (1928). The Evolution of Trout and Trout Fishing in America. New York: E.P. Dutton and Company.
• Southard, Charles Zibeon (1931). A Treatise on Trout for the Progressive Angler. New York: E.P. Dutton and Company.
• Harding, Col E. W. (1931). The Flyfisher & the Trout's Point of View: New Light on Flyfishing Theory & Practice. London: Seeley Service & Company, Ltd.
• Skues, G. E. M. (1939). Nymph Fishing for Caulk Stream Trout. London: A & C Black.

(1940–1970s)

• Connett, Eugene V. III (1940). Any Luck? – Trout Fishing. New York: Garden City Publishing Inc.
• Marinaro, Vincent C. (1950). A Modern Dry Fly Code. New York: G. P. Putnam Sons. ISBN   1-55821-413-5. One of the most important angling books of the 20th century A Modern Dry Fly Code, Marinaro revolutionized American trout fishing with his experiences on the Pennsylvania spring creeks in the 1940s and 50s. ^[9]

A Modern Dry Fly Code was first published in 1950 and it remains a popular work, having been reprinted at least twice. The Code attracted attention right from the start because there was more in it about terrestrials than there was about mayflies and also because the author focused attention on small imitations to an extent that had never been encouraged before. Marinaro was a brave man for doing it and for some time he stood out as a lone voice in the wilderness; he was challenged, for example, for suggesting that size 14 was the largest hook needed for a dry fly imitation (this was in the days before hooks were available in sizes below 20s). In retrospect, Marinaro probably kicked off a fashion for tiny patterns that went just a little too far before it corrected itself, but his basic point was well made.

— Dr. Andrew Herd ^[10]

• Skues, G. E. M. (1950). Silk, Fur and Feather, The Trout-Fly Dressers Year. London: Fishing Gazette.
• Skues, G. E. M. (1951). Itchen Memories. London: Herbert Jenkins.
• Bergman, Ray (1952). Trout . New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Ray Bergman, one of the great angling writers of the 20th century ^[11]  –The Dr. Spock of American fly fishing in the mid-20th century –was a former editor of Outdoor Life magazine.

Bergman's Trout is the largest (451 pages) ever devoted to one fish in American publishing history. Many anglers, obviously feeling that there's nothing you can learn from a book that you can't learn better from a fish, consider their libraries complete once they've bought their copies of Bergman's Trout.

— Arnold Gingrich, Joys of Trout, 1973 ^[12]

• Everett, Fred (1952). Fun With Trout. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: The Telegraph Press.
• Walker, C. F. (1956). Angling Letters of G.E.M. Skues. London: Adam and Charles Black.
• Quick, Jim (1957). Trout Fishing and Trout Flies. South Brunswick, N.J.: A. S. Barnes. An easy reading, contemporary (post WW II) review of the various species of trout, how to fish for them and the various types of flies to use. Contains a dictionary of 'Productive Patterns' with pattern recipes and nice color plates.
• Hidy, Vernon S. (1960). Sports Illustrated Book of Wet-Fly Fishing. Time Inc.
• Quick, James (1960). Fishing The Nymph. New York: Ronald Press.
• Fox, Charles K. (1963). This Wonderful World of Trout. Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Foxcrest. Fox, who Arnold Gingrich calls the Chaucer of the Le Tort, was one of the Pennsylvania spring creek anglers who pioneered terrestrial fishing with small flies on spring creeks. Gingrich believed This Wonderful World of Trout deserved a permanent place in every fly fishers library. ^[13]
• Flick, Arthur B. (1967). The New Streamside Guide to Naturals and their Imitations. New York: Crown Publishers Inc. Describes the flies and nymphs significant in trout fishing, and explains the procedures for constructing imitations ^[14]
• Brooks, Charles E. (1970). Larger Trout for the Western Fly Fisherman. New York: A. S. Barnes and Co. ISBN   0-498-07334-3.
• Brooks, Joe (1972). Trout Fishing . New York: Harper & Row. Considered the most popular, all-around fly fishing book in the late 20th century by Paul Schullery in American Fly Fishing – A History ^[15]
• Wright, Leonard M. Jr. (1972). Fishing the Dry Fly As A Living Insect – An Unorthodox Method. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc. ISBN   0-525-21740-1.

Mr. Wright's first book, Fishing the Dry Fly as a Living Insect (E. P. Dutton, 1972) raised the hackles of some reviewers and weekend fishermen. The sportswriter Red Smith wondered in The New York Times whether its author could possibly still be alive. Surely, Mr. Smith wrote, he must have been struck dead for blasphemy, for he had the audacity to suggest that the high priest, Frederic Halford, and such sainted subdeacons as Theodore Gordon, George M. L. LaBranche and Edward Ringwood Hewitt had rocks in their heads when it came to floating a tuft of feather and silk over a trout. The Halford gospel, Mr. Smith noted, taught that the fly should be cast upstream and floated down in an absolutely dead drift. Mr. Wright cast down and across and twitched the fly as he did to suggest to the fish that "here is something alive, edible and defenseless." But Mr. Smith tried the Wright method and then accepted, as he wrote, "what Mr. Wright tells us now – that nothing brings out the essential bully in a trout like a live bug he knows he can whip."

— From Leonard Wright's obituary in The New York Times, 2001 ^[16]

• Heacox, Cecil E. (1974). The Complete Brown Trout . New York: Winchester Press. ISBN   0-87691-129-7. the first comprehensive, in-depth study of the Brown Trout, Salmo Trutta: its origin, distribution, anatomy, life history, diet; the methods used to manage and propagate it; and the tactics and tackle that have been developed to fish for it.
• Brooks, Charles E. (1974). The Trout and The Stream. New York: Crown Publishers. focused on Western Trout fishing, The Trout and The Stream help popularize large and heavy stonefly nymph fishing in the West ^[17]
• Fox, Charles K. (1976). Rising Trout. New York: Hawthorn Books. ISBN   0-8015-6394-1. A compilation of the observations, discoveries, and informed opinions of a man who knows trout. Discusses the literature, ecology and techniques of trout fishing. The author refers mainly to New England limestone rivers, and the LeTort in particular. ^[18]
• Brooks, Charles E. (1976). Nymph Fishing For Larger Trout. New York: Crown Publishers. ISBN   0-517-52551-8.

Brook's book is often seen as the best companion for Schweibert's [Nymphs]; the latter is lacking in detailed instructions on fishing techniques, and the former [this book] contains a catalog of historically known and modern ways of fishing the imitations

— Paul Schullery, American Fly Fishing – A History, 1996. ^[19]

• Ovington, Ray (1977). The Trout and The Fly. New York: Hawthorn Books Inc. ISBN   0-8015-7982-1. This is Ovington's seventh book on trout and fly fishing. He concentrates on the development of both the skills and the instinctive know-how necessary to fully appreciate the fine art of taking trout on flies.

(1980s–1990s)

• Lee, Art (1982). Fishing Dry Flies for Trout on Rivers and Streams. New York: Atheneum Publishers Inc. ISBN   0-689-10959-8. Contains four Color Plates of dry flies
• Wulff, Lee (1986). Trout on a Fly. New York: The Lyons Press. ISBN   1-55821-076-8.
• Gierach, John (1989). Fly Fishing Small Streams. Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books. ISBN   0-8117-2290-2. Tips and techniques written in John Gierach's passionate and notable style. ^[20]
• Engle, Ed (1991). Fly Fishing The Tailwaters. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books. ISBN   0-8117-2343-7.
• Meck, Charles R. (1991). Fishing Small Stream with a Fly Rod. Woodstock, Vermont: The Countryman Press. ISBN   0-88150-201-4.
• Ritchie, Tony (1994). Dry Fly-Fishing for Trout. Kenhurst, NSW, Australia: Kangaroo Press. ISBN   0-86417-622-8.

21st century

• Hughes, Dave (2002). Taking Trout – Good, Solid, Practical Advice for Fly Fishing Streams and Stillwaters. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books. ISBN   0-8117-2906-0.
• Johnson, Les (2004). Fly-Fishing Coastal Cutthroat Trout: Flies, Techniques, Conservation. Portland, OR: Frank Amato Publishers. ISBN   978-1-57188-334-6.
• Kustich, Jerry (2005). A Wisp In The Wind – In Search of Bull Trout, Bamboo, and Beyond. Grand Island, NY: West River Publishing. ISBN   0-9633109-4-1. This book provides a well written, insiders look into the techniques, equipment and personalities employed in manufacture of R. L. Winston Bamboo Fly Rods by Jerry and the crew at the Twin Bridges, Montana, factory. His stories do a nice job of revealing the whole karma around fishing for trout with Bamboo. Jerry also provides some interesting cultural and environmental insights about the rivers in Twin Bridges and Western Montana in general. ^[21]
• Engle, Ed (2005). Fishing Small Flies. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books. ISBN   0-8117-0124-7.
• Schullery, Paul (2006). The Rise – Streamside Observations on Trout, Flies and Fly Fishing. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books. ISBN   978-0-8117-0182-2.