In this entry, I'll be reviewing the New Streamside Guide to Naturals and Their Imitations, by Art Flick, with contributions by David Klaustmeyer and Raymond R. Camp (Globe Pequot, 2007).The first thing I noticed about this book when I spotted it on the shelves of my local Barnes & Noble was the surprisingly stark, featureless cover. Since entering the madness of fly fishing, I've noticed that the vast, vast majority of books about fly fishing feature beautiful covers, depicting fish, flies, fishermen, and rustic landscapes. In contrast, however, while this cover did feature a single photograph of a fisherman, streamside, he was holding a book, not a flyrod, and, excepting the photograph, the rest of the cover is a monotone gray. While this lack of flair may lose a few would-be readers, it actually was the very thing that caught my attention.
The book is fairly small and thin, due to its intention of being carried streamside. For me, the book will probably stay at home, as I have all the streamside grace of an intoxicated giraffe, and the book would probably end up as so much watery pulp, on its way to the gulf of Mexico. On longer trips I may take it along, stored safely in a ziplock bag, in the large back pouch of my vest, but for afternoon/evening trips, I'll keep it safely at home.
Between the covers, the book's 174 pages are divided into 20 chapters and change, in the form of a smattering of forewords, introductions, appendices, afterwords, and an index. The first few chapters are about the nature of dry fly fishing, and a pretty good explanation of the mayfly life cycle. There are also several chapters about other insect life, but the real meat and potatoes of this tome are the 9 chapters about individual species of mayfly.
Flick covers 9 major species of mayfly in great detail: the Quill Gordon, the Hendrickson/Red Quill, the March Brown, the Grey Fox, the Light Cahill, the Green Drake, the Dun Variant (Isonychia), the Blue-winged Olive, and the Cream Variant (Potamanthus). He explains how each of these carries out its life processes and explains habits, appearances, emergences, and peculiar tendencies of each. He even goes as far as to estimate the time of year, and even time of day, when anglers can expect to see the various hatches.
Flick also shares the patterns he uses to imitate these mayflies, and includes tips on how they are best fished. In a separate chapter, he discusses the proper care and storage of dry flies as well.
For me, this book was exactly the sort I'd been looking for. While the information contained between its gray covers may be old news to experienced anglers, I'm really starting to explore the entomology aspect of fly fishing, and this book does a great job of helping to break down the general classification of 'mayfly' into the individual types that are commonly encountered streamside, a subject that many seem hesitant to take on. Conversely, this book may be a little bit too involved for truly novice fly anglers. The guy that doesn't know the difference between a terrestrial and a sculpin isn't really concerned with the reasons why a Hendrickson and a Red Quill both imitate the same species, but in time, I think many novice fly fishermen will become interested enough in entomology to make this a worthwhile read. Even guys that pretty much know all of this may still benefit from having the key points condensed into one small, portable volume, not to mention the little tips and tricks, as well as the peculiar tone of Flick's that make it read more like a letter and less like a text.
In summary, Art Flick's New Streamside Guide to Naturals and Their Imitations is a practical, approachable, and plainly-worded offering that will help any angler unlock the mysteries of the flies that fish feed on.
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