 |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
IMPORTANT
SITE UPDATE:
Visit the relaunched
Fish & Fly at fishandfly.com
John Goddard's Waterside Guide
The Fly Fisherman's Entomological Pattern Book by John Cawthorne
Reviewed by Terry Lawton
Identifying flies on river and lake is something that
I always find difficult. What in England we call mayflies (E Vulgata or
E Danica) are easy enough - no other fly is so big - but there are many
others that are a real challenge. I am sure that the best way to learn
to identify the more common flies would be to spend time on the water
with an entomlogist who can identify each fly as it appears. Until I can
do that, I and most other fishermen will have to rely on books. Two books
on the market are a new edition of John Goddard's Waterside Guide and
the other is an entirely new book, The Fly Fisherman's Entomological Pattern
Book by John Cawthorne.
For me the problem of using a book is that you have to have some rough
idea of the type of fly that you are seeking to identify. It is easy enough
to distinguish an upwing fly from a sedge with its long wings folded over
its body but within the different groups, working out where to start looking
in a book is not that easy.
John
Goddard's Waterside Guide was first published in 1988 and has been re-issued
by Coch-Y-Bonddu Books. Compared with the first edition, this new version
has an extra page of new patterns and also a page on stillwater dry flies
and emergers. There is also an interesting chapter on fishing the dry
fly on stillwater.
John Goddard is an expert entomologist, keen photographer, a very well
known fisherman and the designer of a number of successful and popular
flies. His article are published regularly in magazines and he has written
a number of books on flies and fishing. He is thus eminently well qualified
to produce a book on identitying natural flies and choosing a suitable
artificial to represent the natural on the water.
John Cawthorne is an artist with a particular interest in nature and wildlife
and has held season rods on a numbers of rivers throughout the British
Isles. His book is described as "an invaluable reference book that
will appeal to all fly fishermen". He takes a very different approcah
to identifying naturals from John Goddard.
Cawthorne's book works on the basis of helping the angler to identify
the natural fly with a description of how and where it lives etc, a suitable
artificials to represent the natural insect.
One oddity is that in all the fly tying recipes he refers to hook length
and not the more accepted hook size. Also I am not sure why a number of
the illustrations are in black and white when the majority (29) are in
colour. All the illustrations, whether in colour or black and white, are
by the author.
Which book would I buy/use/recommend? A difficult question to answer as
both books serve a slightly different purpose. I think that most fishermen
will find both of genuine use.
Cawthorne's book suffers from limitations on the number
of flies it identifies but looks more accessible, particularly to the
bookshop browser. Goddard's book is probably more erudite. Which one you
choose may be a question of do you find it easier to identify insects
from photographs or illustrations?
John Goddard's Waterside Guide Published and distributed by Coch-Y-Bonddu
Books at 12.95. Hardback, 220 pages.
The Fly Fisherman's Entomological Pattern Book by John Cawthorne. Published
by The Crowood Press at 16.99. Hardback, 144 pages.
