If your a serious tier, tired of the same twelve guys showing the same tired old patterns, give this book a hard once over. Contained in it's pages are some of the wests, newest and most inovative flies, desinged by some very talented tiers. Formated with multiple angle, photos, allowing both laterial and dorsal views. Best pattern guide to date.

While Schollmeyer and Leeson's other book (Fly Tier's Reference book) is a great instructional treat, this book is focussed on those flies the locals use here in the West. Recipes come from a variety of sources (shops, guides, tyers) and it is interesting to note the differences in local varients of well known flies. The spiral bound hardback is certainly worth the extra cost. And there are great photos by Schollmeyer, as usual.

Excellent! A compilation of some of the greatest fishing writers of all times, and a few you may have never heard of before (but certainly will again). A true celebration of that cosmic spirit, the trout, and what they mean to those of us crazy enough to chase them. It is so easy to slip into these stories and get the willies thinking "My god, have they been watching me?", because these are the stories of of us all.

This collection of Haig-Brown is not necessarily his best works, but all of his books are near impossible to find and the republication of these four books is a godsend to anyone who enjoys reading about a true nature lover!

Ted Leeson's introduction provides a little background on Haig-Brown. As an expert outdoorsperson himself, he was the right choice to do the job!

Every nature lover MUST have Haig-Brown in their collections.

WOW! Of all the fly tying books I own, and there are many, this is the most useful of them all! Don't look for patterns here, just page after page of technique, clearly defined and photographed. You'll become a better tier just owning this masterpiece. This book will answer every fly tying question you've ever had and many you haven't even thought of yet. This is a must have for any fly tier regardless of skill level.

This book is a must have on all serious fly tyer's benches. Have you ever started working on a pattern and could not get wings, wing cases, hackle,or collars to sit right, or maybe need to make a dubbing loop or re-enforce herl. Maybe, it's weaving a body on a nymph. Then heres your answer. This book goes from A to Z on all fly tying endeavors. I can not tell you how many times I have read just for reading or referred to solve difficulty's that I have encounterd while tying. A wonderful well thought out book that all serious fly Tyers at all levels can truly appreciate. This book deserves more stars than Amazon allows to give.

This book is a must own for the beginner and advanced flytier. The bright close-up pictures and the many diverse ways of tying everything from bodies to wings make this a book that you will not want to put down, especially during your tying season.

I can't read this book. If you're going to write about fishing, write about it honestly and tell us why you love it, don't start out with a web of "points of fixity" "dim inferences" "sources of hidden significance". Hemingway once said if you know something truly, and write about it truly, it will represent all things. I can't give this book a fair review, because after just reading Robert Traver's yarns, the styloe of this one just irritates me.

Mr. Leeson's book is about flyfishing, but it is not your typical flyfishing book. It is much more well-written and insightful than anything else written on the subject. Read it; you will not be disppointed.

With the poetic delivery of Maclean, and the naturalist vision of Thoreau, Ted Leeson paints a beautiful,and sometimes comical, mosiac of fly fishing the Northwest. As I read this book I am reminded that the most noble and rewarding aspect of my sport is not the mere catching of fish, but it is the beautiful & mystical arena in which we are privileged to practice it.

Sure could tell English professor wrote it. Was way too fluffy. Lots of slow places. Not enough description of the fishing experience.

Ted Leeson seems to have spent most of his life coaxing trout out of forested pools of water. From his current home on the west coast, he thinks back to his youth and the spring creeks he and friends used to fish in southwestern Wisconsin. That small region is called "driftless" in geological terms; it's the only part of the state that escaped the flow of the last glacier and thus has more rolling hills and valleys than the rest of the central and upper Midwest. Leeson's reminiscences are supplemented with casual factual information about glacial and nonglacial geology, the science of meandering water, the differences between freestone rivers and spring creeks, the known history of fly-fishing, the Amish methods of sustainable agriculture, and concerns about private ownership of waterways. Interjected bits of natural wisdom provide food for thought: "It is no coincidence that the salinity of blood and seawater are the same." Now there's a nugget to throw to the next person you see.

Throughout the book's journey, we remember along with him, back to youthful days and times spent with good friends. While the author admits he might not be much of a fisherman -- his first attempt at casting practice in his backyard snagged a small boy from the neighborhood -- he's good at sharing his memories and life observations with us. He paints scenes with words to give us landscapes based in text, not oils. Jerusalem Creek and Emerald Creek (sobriquets to protect their real identities) contained "trout of the usual two varieties: the kind we could catch, which were scarce, and the kind we could not, which were abundant." Stream-side attacks by territorial red-winged blackbirds were not uncommon. Now living in Oregon, this displaced Cheesehead still waxes poetic about his homeland: "[T]hough the state may not be precisely in the middle of the country, the human heart too is somewhat north and east of center."

One gets the distinct impression that Leeson wrote this book as a tribute to a brother now gone. Though the topic is not fully addressed, there are hints at loss and at having "a hole in your heart." And that's OK, the way it reads. If he relayed his personal history to us over a few cold ones in a nearby tavern, we'd probably be polite enough not to ask the direct questions. But we'd always wonder what really happened. And here the reader is also kept wondering.

When Leeson and his comrades return as adults to fish in Jerusalem Creek, the memories and realities come full circle. They see that while things are not quite the same, it is not necessarily the place that is different.

Ted Leeson captured the experience of fishing the intimate spring creeks of Wisconsin's Driftless area. I like to think I share more than a few parallels with the author's experience. Once an active fisher of Wisconsin's spring creeks, I know rarely get to return. Their magic isn't in large fish or even pastoral setting though both certainly do exist. I think the author wonderfully explains how these creeks glory is in their intimacy. They feel "cozy" yet are never necessarily the same.
I think the story should appeal to people who've never fished the spring creeks of WI but just enjoy a wonderfully told story about a kid growing up fishing familiar streams whose now long removed from those streams but the streams never leave your memories.

This book is great fun, and I will certainly enjoy testing some of the regional patterns on my waters this year. The good part is that the patterns are more local (if you are from the east, if not other regional guides exist), not the usual western patterns that make up most pattern guides.

The downside is that one gets the feeling that little peer review stands behind these patterns, and that perhaps a Rolodex had more to do with their inclusion than their individual merit. The nearest submitter to me runs a fly shop I haven't been able to find with a "house to house search" of the community in question...