Brian’s Fly Fisher’s Pocket Companion

This is in all ways a very charming book!

That was my immediate reaction when going through it the first time, and after having read it it more detail, I still stand with my first impulse. Charming is a good adjective to use. And I mean that in the best sense of the word.

It’s also a very personal book, which bears the hallmarks of being a labor of love made by an author who has spent a lot of time doing research, writing content and making drawings for the book – and very likely also set everything up himself in preparation for print and used Amazon’s self-publishing services to get it published.

As he writes in the intro, the purpose of the book is “to help you see what I’ve seen” and “to give you reliable patterns that work not because they’re fashionable, but because they’re traditionally honest.”
And that’s what you get: traditionally honest flies that will very likely work.

The book is mainly a pattern book, and true to its declaration they are “traditionally honest”, even though quite a few that are more modern than traditional have made their way in – among them some patterns from UK fly tyer Nick Thomas, which regular readers of this site will recognize.

You will find recipes for about 130 flies, each accompanied by a hand drawing of the fly, and some also illustrated with a photo or drawing of the natural. The flies are stream and lake flies only, so don’t expect to find saltwater flies or flies for pike or bass. The focus is on insects – the traditional caddises, mayflies, stoneflies, and various terrestrials with the traditional categories such as larvae, nymphs, emergers, dry flies, subimagos, imagos and so on. You will also find streamers, wet flies, attractors and what in the UK is referred to as lures – so flies that imitate baitfish, tadpoles and other critters on a trout’s menu.

Sample pages

Brian Hunt

You won’t find any anecdotes or colorful stories about fantastic fishing trips. But you will find a lot of natural history and explanations of insect anatomy and life cycles described in easily understandable terms.

A few pages towards the end of the book deal with rod and line setups, and I particularly enjoyed Brian Hunt’s notes on the shooting heads made by his grandfather in an era where the term wasn’t even invented.

The last part also contains a “calendar” where the author recommends flies for each month and adds some notes on fishing them.

You don’t acquire this book for its layout or design. This is the work of an enthusiast and not the product of a professional process. There are a few places where fonts change unintentionally, and text and drawings collide in a place or two, but that takes nothing away from the book. In a way it’s part of the charm that it isn’t perfect.

This is a very useful book with lots of pragmatic advice. It’s a very personal book, which conveys the knowledge and experience of an angler, who seems to have gathered a lot of facts about flies, gear and fishing over a lifetime as a fly fisherman.

Sample pages

Brian Hunt

Is it a fantastic book? That question can be answered in two ways:

1. No, not really ... Objectively seen it’s a little messy, and it’s very much the work of an enthusiastic amateur.
2. Yes, it is! It’s a very useful collection of flies and tips on using them made with passion and heart by a true enthusiast.

And for that it deserves to be read.