Owning a fly-fishing library is like belonging to a club whose members include many of the best to wield the long rod. The more volumes you accumulate, the wider your circle of friends.

The name of the game

They are always available to answer a question or share a thought. No debate, of course, but that too has its advantages — you don't lose many arguments.

My collection of fly-fishing books drips over a wall full of shelves and long ago crept into four-figure territory. Only a few have their pages exposed with any regularity. Others occasionally provide me with great pleasure, but for the purpose of recommending a library I've selected the best in a number of categories.

What follows are my choices for building a library devoted to fly fishing for trout. All my recommendations are currently in print. The publication dates given are from my library; some have been reprinted and so will have later dates. Many excellent works are out of print and available in the used-book market, but I won't burden you with those.

Obviously, many specialty areas such as specific river guides, tailwater fisheries, fishing from drift boats, patterns for a particular region, and so on are missing. I have stuck to the essentials.

Beginners

Fly Fishing for Trout
by Richard Talleur
The Lyons Press, 1999

For beginning fly fishers, this book, a reprint of the 1987 edition, is the best available. In it, Dick covers every facet of fly fishing from selection of an outfit, tocasting, leaders, knots, and basic entomology. He writes simply without being patronizing. Pleasantly, my opinion is shared by someone who is also exposed to many books, Barry Serviente, owner of The Anglers Art.

Proficient casting skills are a cornerstone of successful fly fishing. However, I hold strong views on trying to learn these from books — you can't!

Putting my recommendations where my opinions are, I suggest you get a copy of one of the following excellent videotapes. As these two master casters have much different styles, choose one or the other, not both.

Mind you, even video is a poor substitute for quality live instruction. These are the ones in my library, so you may encounter updated versions with slightly different titles.

The Essence of Fly Casting
by Mel Krieger
Club Pacific, 1991

Mel Krieger teaches what I would call a modified-classic style of casting. He exudes an infectious enthusiasm that makes learning a pleasure.

Lefty Kreh's New Fly Casting Techniques
By Lefty Kreh
Safari Club International, MD

Lefty Kreh is the chief proponent and best-known presenter of what I choose to call the long-stroke style. Lefty has been demonstrating casting for many years and his presentations are well honed.

Reading the Water

Even if you believe rivers are an open book, I would be surprised if you don't find your gaze focused on some heretofore bypassed feature after consulting the following text on reading the water.

Reading the Water
by Dave Hughes
Stackpole Books, 1988

Rivers are like a book full of coded messages. Without a key you're reduced to guessing the content. In Reading the Water, Dave Hughes furnishes the reader with the tools to decipher nature's endlessly varying cryptography. However, he goes far beyond simply identifying holding locations in different sections of a river by suggesting tackle,flies and methods for successfully catching trout when you have found them.