Color photos and recipes for the most effective Welsh flies, with fishing tips and background on the flies.

As heard on NPR's This American Life “Absorbing . . . Though it's non-fiction, The Feather Thief contains many of the elements of a classic thriller.” —Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air “One of the most peculiar and memorable true-crime books ever.” —Christian Science Monitor A rollicking true-crime adventure and a captivating journey into an underground world of fanatical fly-tiers and plume peddlers, for readers of The Stranger in the Woods, The Lost City of Z, and The Orchid Thief. On a cool June evening in 2009, after performing a concert at London's Royal Academy of Music, twenty-year-old American flautist Edwin Rist boarded a train for a suburban outpost of the British Museum of Natural History. Home to one of the largest ornithological collections in the world, the Tring museum was full of rare bird specimens whose gorgeous feathers were worth staggering amounts of money to the men who shared Edwin's obsession: the Victorian art of salmon fly-tying. Once inside the museum, the champion fly-tier grabbed hundreds of bird skins—some collected 150 years earlier by a contemporary of Darwin's, Alfred Russel Wallace, who'd risked everything to gather them—and escaped into the darkness. Two years later, Kirk Wallace Johnson was waist high in a river in northern New Mexico when his fly-fishing guide told him about the heist. He was soon consumed by the strange case of the feather thief. What would possess a person to steal dead birds? Had Edwin paid the price for his crime? What became of the missing skins? In his search for answers, Johnson was catapulted into a years-long, worldwide investigation. The gripping story of a bizarre and shocking crime, and one man's relentless pursuit of justice, The Feather Thief is also a fascinating exploration of obsession, and man's destructive instinct to harvest the beauty of nature.

Emrys Evans, Manod, was a well-known North Wales fisherman and a keen historian of Welsh angling. He formed a collection of 133 fly patterns used in the multitude of hill lakes in the area of Blaenau Ffestiniog, together with extensive manuscript notes. To add to this portfolio, his son-in-law, Gareth Tudor Jones, photographed each fly. After Emrys's death in 2008, at the age of 91 years, his family explored the possibility of publishing his work. With the support of the Cambrian Angling Association, Geraint Vaughan Jones of Llan Ffestiniog was able to edit and publish it. The book was written in Welsh, and the first edition was published in the Welsh language in quite a limited edition. This quickly sold out. This new edition in the English language has been translated by Coch-y-Bonddu Books staff member, Rev. Richard Lewis, and edited by Paul Morgan. Geraint Vaughan Jones who edited and was responsible for publishing the original edition has contributed a new Introduction in English. Superbly illustrated with Gareth's photographs, this forms a unique and valuable record of flies, most of them unique to the Ffestinog area of the Snowdonia National Park. "The tyings...are in every sense fishing flies - and there is no bull in the accompanying text. The flies show all the core skills to fine effect... Priceless!" (Terry Griffiths, Editor of Fly Dresser magazine).

From the Arctic to Bristol Bay, this book covers all the fabulous fishing opportunities throughout Alaska. With this resource, anglers can fly into Anchorage, rent a camper, and be catching trophy salmon and trout within hours of arrival. Includes 109 detailed river and lake maps--a big book for a big state.

Provides step-by-step instructions on tying five hundred trout flies and offers information on tying techniques, tools, and materials.

Ron Alcott is unquestionably one of the best classic fly tiers in the world, and in this book he shares everything he knows. Written for both expert and beginning tiers, this book is full of easy-to-follow tips and techniques for building these beautiful works of art. Alcott shares: their history; materials and substitutes for those components that are now illegal; silk, feather, and fur colors; metallic tinsels; types of wings; proportions; building classic featherwings; metric conversion chart; and more. In 81 step-by-step photos, Alcott builds five representative classic flies, and provides dressings for 32 more. Sixteen color plates illustrate many of the most renowned classic flies, as well as feathers, silk color, and antique tools, This book is a must for all tiers interested in classic-fly building.

Here is a guide to the most revolutionary development in British angling for many years: fly-fishing for trout and grayling in the very centre of towns and cities throughout the United Kingdom. From Sheffield to South London, from Merthyr Tydfil to Edinburgh, this is the cutting edge of 21st century fishing. Nothing is more surreal yet exhilarating than casting a fly for iconic clean-water species in the historic surroundings of our most damaged riverscapes -- centres of post-industrial decay, but now also of rediscovery and regeneration. * fishing-focused profiles of 50 selected streams * interviews with local conservationists dedicated to restoring the urban rivers * local flies and emerging traditions, and * details of how to get involved and support this restoration work. This book guides readers towards relaxing, good-value fishing on their own doorsteps as a viable alternative to more costly (and carbon-intensive) destination angling: a positive lifestyle choice in challenging moral and economic times. No one author or publisher has yet attempted to bring this emerging trend of urban flyfishing into a single, epoch-making volume. **A donation from all sales goes to the Wild Trout Trust and the Grayling Society **

This work, written by an experienced angler, covers aspects of the sport such as biology of the fish, tackle, flies and angling methods.