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Fly-Tying - The Basic Techniques

Reviewed by Simon Lewin

Presented by David Westwood and John Wilshaw. Published by EMAP/Linx Visual Media

This is the first in a series of videos that aims to solve some of the mysteries that surround fly-tying with instruction from Fish & Fly’s David Westwood.

David is accompanied by EMAP’s John Wilshaw, who takes the role of beginner, asking David relevant questions as he ties a whole range of trout flies. Whilst the format is not ground breaking, it actually works very well.

You watch David tying a variety of flies - nymphs, wets & dries - and each subsequent fly builds on a technique that has been previously illustrated. As a relative newcomer to fly tying I was fairly encouraged by the number of flies you can tie with a limited range of techniques and David explains clearly which aspects of a dressing are important for catching fish and those which simply satisfy the fly-tyer.

The photography is very clear, with a fair number of close up shots of specific techniques. Whilst I didn’t try, I imagine that it would be very useful to watch the video whilst tying each dressing - with the pause button close by.

I had perhaps expected a little more in the way of computer generated images, but the sequence illustrating the whip finish works reasonably well - though I’m not convinced an absolute beginner would be able to learn the technique from this alone. But this is a minor complaint.

So, does this video help you tie better flies? I’d have to answer ‘yes’ to this. The video really suited my level of ability - someone that has done a little fly tying but needs to do more. Since watching the video I’ve tied a couple of the flies that David illustrated and I have to say that they look much better than those that I tied before. And for £12.99 it is good value (especially compared to a number of fly-tying books that I’ve bought in the past)

The next in the series has just been completed and we look forward to reviewing this in the future.

To order a copy of the video for £12.99 from Linx Visual Media call the Hotline (24 hr) on +44 (0)1652-637984

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