Stunningly beautiful, historically important!
This book is truly stunning (my copy arrived yesterday and I can't put it down)!
As lovely as the photographs are, as well written as each fly's description, more important by far I believe, is the quality of historical research that is a part of each fly's writeup.
Angling "lore" is full of often repeated anecdotes that have become generally accepted not because they are true, but simply because they have been repeated over and over. John has not succumbed to this all too commmon, lazy, easy way of researching and writing angling books. He's done the hard work of separating fictitious tales that are repeated from factual material that often takes a great deal of effort to uncover.
That he's done this in the context of a stunningly beautiful and wonderfully readable book makes his accomplishment both a significant contribution to angling history and a genuine pleasure to both read and simply thumb through.
I must confess that discovering that the majority of flies in my steelhead boxes, many being flies that I either tied or acquired in the 70s and 80s, flies I always simply thought of as "my steelhead flies," are now considered "classic flies" is making me feel both grateful and a little old!
My personal steelhead Olympus now includes, alongside Haig-Brown, McMillan and Combs, John Shewey.
This is a wonderful book.
Thank you Mr. Shewey.
