Engle's Fishing Small Flies a big
achievement for small fly fanatics.
Review ©2005 by Tom Chandler
My first taste of Ed Engle's writing was his little-known book titled Seasonal – a wonderful collection of stories about his life as a seasonal worker for the Forest Service. Most chapters had little to do with fly fishing, but his direct style and keen eye for character were intriguing.
Since then, Engle has published a series of excellent fly fishing books, though none so complete as his most recent: Fishing Small Flies.
Engle's experience permeates this book; every chapter and diagram reflects the hours he's spent on some of the toughest tailwaters in the West, and even the “standard” advice is typically enhanced with an added twist. For example, he advises attaching a tiny amount of strike putty to a knot twelve inches from the fly in order to improve visibility – a great tip for those with aging eyes or little experience with small flies.
His writing is concise, unassuming, and never gets in the way of his material, allowing him to effectively demystify a topic that's often held hostage by writers looking to plump their egos at their readers' expense. Fishing a tiny fly isn't easy, but Engle makes it clear it's not as difficult as many would like you to believe, and that success is often a matter of paying attention to details.
For example, he reminds readers to make sure the line on their reel is laying in nice, straight coils, advising them to strip and re-wind if necessary. That's not the voice of someone repeating what he's heard – that's experience talking, and it's the kind of thing that actually will help you catch more fish.
His focus on "seeing" fish and reading rise forms is gratifying, as are the number of line drawings, pictures and graphics designed to make his explanations clear. He lays out the different indicator-less nymphing and "in-the-film" techniques that are often critical to success, and clearly describes the rigging changes needed when fishing on top, in the film, and near the bottom.
His earlier Tying Small Flies book is the ideal companion volume to Fishing Small Flies, and these two books are bound to become classics. Both my copies spend as much time on my desk as they do on my bookshelf – testament to how useful they've become.
Fishing
Small Flies
Ed
Engle
Hardcover, 163 pages
Stackpole Books
Ed Engle's Web site offers
autographed copies: http://www.anglerscovey.com/engle.htm