NAFA’s Fly Fishing Editor, Peter Morse, has released a new book titled A Few Great Flies…and how to fish them.
New books about fly fishing are scarce enough in Australia, let alone books that are predominantly about saltwater fly fishing and tropical species. The only other dedicated SWF book on the subject was Peter’s earlier classic book Saltwater Fly Fishing Fundamentals which has been responsible for helping launch many a fly fisherman into the pursuit of saltwater species.
This new book is a much more detailed examination of flies and how we should fish them. The fly selection it contains is pretty straightforward — basically, they are the flies that Peter travels with regardless of where he’s going fishing; and there are instructions for tying these basic patterns. But where this book really shines is in its detail on how and why we should fish these patterns. This instructional component of the book is written in a highly entertaining way with endless anecdotes about his considerable and interesting fishing experiences around the country (and parts of the world). Successes and failures are learned from and applied.
There are chapters on what makes a good fly, how to fish flies deeper and the importance of varying your retrieve. Line management issues are addressed and there is a very enlightening chapter on fly lines generally. His instructions on how to make weed guards (and why we should use them) is worth the price of the book alone!
The book is 240 pages inside a semi-hard cover with 64 pages of stunning colour images and 120 black and white photos, including fly-tying sequences. It’s been printed on a heavy grain, high quality matte paper and it’s evident that this has been a labour of love because this is a classy publication.
It’s $45, self-published and can be ordered online from
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