25 Best Fly Fishing Books for Anglers of Any Level

Fifty Places to Fly Fish Before You Die an absolute staple in the world of fly fishing reading written by Chris Santella. If you like to fantasize about beautiful fish and fishing destinations when you’re not on the water yourself, this is a fantastic coffee table book to own!

This book has compiled the most breathtaking fly fishing destinations in the world in order to inspire the reader to go on their own angling adventures. There are wonderful photographs and information for each destination regarding the cultural and natural history of each site as well as some insightful input from both the author and regional fishing experts.

This is a seriously addicting book to try and pull your attention from. Permit in the Florida Keys, Striped Bass off of Martha’s Vineyard and Rainbow Trout in Kamchatka are just a few target species and destinations mentioned in this beautiful and informative book. 

This one will no doubt make a wonderful gift for any and all fly fishermen or a welcome addition to your own angling library. Make sure to check out the author’s follow-up to this awesome read if you enjoy it – 50 More Places to Fly Fish Before You Die.

Here’s a gorgeous photo-book that will have you drooling over the pages. Flywater: Fly-Fishing Rivers of the West is a compilation of striking visuals picturing some of the top angling destinations of Western North America.

Flipping through the pages of this breathtaking book will have you itching to get on the water whether or not you’re even a fly fisherman!

There’s not much writing throughout this book so don’t expect to learn a ton of detailed information about the angling destinations featured. The purpose of this book is to take you away from your living room and place you into the Western wilderness – a perfect read for the offseason that will keep you hungry for new water and anxious to go fishing!   

Here’s a fun read for all the fly fishermen out there that love the nitty gritty details of stream insects and entomology.

We all have that one friend who’s a borderline scientist when it comes to insects of fly fishing interest. Paul Weamer has put together a wonderful book for the bug-nerds out there that love learning more about fish food with The Bug Book. 

This book includes hatch charts, fly pattern recommendations and general information that will give the reader a more comprehensive understanding of various stream insects. Understanding where, when and how aquatic insects live gives any angler a MASSIVE edge when it comes to matching the hatch and catching fish. This goes double for large and in charge, wild trout with higher cunning – aka the fish we all long to catch the most! 

A true fly fisherman is both a biologist and a sportsman who understands the ecosystem they are angling in. Take your fly fishing skills and know-how to the next level with a book like this and begin to truly paint a mental picture of your favorite stream’s food web – trust us, you’ll catch more fish!   

Writer Tom Rosenbauer and photographer Andy Anderson have joined forces to create a truly spectacular fly fishing photo-book that will be the center of attention on any angler’s coffee table.

Salt: Coastal and Flats Fishing has compiled photos of breathtaking saltwater fishing destinations from all around the United States and paired them with insightful essays by the author.

The Atlantic and Pacific coast are featured as well as the Florida Keys, Bahamas, and Gulf Coast. Thrilling species including tuna, permit, striped bass, bonefish and tarpon line the pages in order to excite and inspire the reader.

If you love to fish the salt then you’ll have a massive appreciation and reverence for this book. If you don’t, then you’ll start soon after turning the pages of this awesome work!

You gotta love the concept behind this book as a fly fisherman or tier. The History of Fly-Fishing in Fifty Flies is both a gorgeous and informative photo book that focuses on the milestone flies that have revolutionized the sport over the ages.

Fly fishing goes back more than 2,000 years, and you bet there’s some fascinating history regarding the tackle and equipment we use that ultimately got us to where we are today. 

Whether you tie flies or not, you’ll love the information and history that drives this work.  

This book covers 50 different flies throughout the fly fishing timeline to examine and discuss how the sport has evolved in all aspects. The evolution of fly tying, of course, resulted in the evolution of fishing techniques, rods, reels, and fly lines. Author Ian Whitelaw has done a wonderful job of recounting a particularly interesting version of the history of fly fishing with this unique and brilliant work!   

Here’s an awesome read for fly fishers that love to dream. The Hunt for Giant Trout: 25 Best Places in the United States to Catch a Trophy by author Landon Mayer is a thrilling book for us trout nerds that enjoy fantasizing about stunning fly fishing destinations and big, sloppy fish.

Each bucket list destination features gorgeous photos and crucial information for what and when to fish there. Over 30 different fly patterns and how to tie them is also discussed. Interviews with expert guides and fly tiers add even more value to this already riveting book!

Although this is a book for gawking and drooling over alone and with friends, if taken seriously it just might be the component of your fishing preparation that makes your wildest trout dreams come true!

Orvis is one of the oldest and most respected names in fly fishing. The Orvis Fly Fishing Guide by Tom Rosenbauer is furthermore perhaps the most comprehensive book for beginners out there.

This guide covers all the bases of fly fishing and will immediately launch the reader deep into the world of angling on the fly. 

A ‘guide’ to fly fishing might seem like a silly idea at first, especially if you have a mentor or friend who’s teaching you the ropes. The fact of the matter is, there’s a ton of fly fishing information, tactics, practices, and techniques that no single angler could ever impart to another. Even experienced fly fishermen will walk away from this book having learned something new. It’s no secret that the best anglers never cease learning.

Topics include tackle and gear selection and care, casting techniques, information on presenting, striking, playing and landing fish as well as advice for knot tying, mending and drifting. There’s even a new chapter on giving back to the spaces we enjoy fishing through conservation efforts and on practicing proper stream etiquette – information you’ll, unfortunately, be hard-pressed to find elsewhere.    

Like we said, the fly fishing world spans a tremendous amount of information, a field guide like this can be an invaluable tool for new and experienced anglers alike! 

The Total Fly Fishing Manual: 307 Essential Skills and Tips From Field & Stream is one of the ultimate manuals for teaching about fly fishing techniques, tools and tactics written by Joe Cermele.

Similar to Orvis’s guide, this is a book that’s meant to hit all the bases of fly fishing and send the new angler on a path to success. 

Published in 2015, this book is still considered to be a current authority on the topics covered. The layout of the book is very much like a magazine issue of Field & Stream, providing awesome photos and graphics as well as insights from all sorts of fishing experts.

Another great compilation of fly fishing advice and general information that every angler can put to use on the water!  

The Little Red Book of Fly Fishing by Kirk Deeter and Charlie Meyers is a brilliant work meant to simplify some of the most maddeningly difficult aspects of fly fishing.

The goal of this book is to offer words of advice and encouragement to the reader regarding the most important challenges of fly fishing – but in a laidback manner in simple layman’s terms.

As a lot of the informative works included on this list demonstrate, fly fishing guidebooks can be dense and difficult to digest. It can sometimes feel more like a tough college course than a pleasure read when you’re really getting into the nitty-gritty details and diagrams of nymphing, reading water and casting techniques.

This book covers the basic elements of fly fishing in a far more relatable and simplistic manner in order to assist both novice and experienced anglers with enhancing their fishing techniques and knowledge.

This collection of 240 plainly spoken tips will have you thinking about certain fly fishing aspects in a new light and help you to refine some of your techniques that could use some work. 

A brilliant gift for fly fishermen of all levels as well as a valuable read for yourself. Don’t sleep on this valuable and well-spoken collection of straight-shot advice! 

You didn’t think we’d leave out Fly Fishing For Dummies did you? This one is self-explanatory, it’s a learning guide for beginners and reference for more experienced anglers. Believe it or not, this book by Peter Kaminsky has some pretty excellent reviews for the quality of information and for the way it’s delivered.

According to the text, if you want to learn how to fly fish, “all you need are the right tools, proper technique, and a positive attitude.” This book can help you select the proper gear and teach you the essential techniques, but the rest is up to you!

Love to streamer fish? If you’re like me then there’s nothing more fun and exciting than hucking meaty flies to aggressive fish. Strip setting into a mean trout or territorial largemouth is an absolute thrill – if you’re not an avid streamer fisherman then you will be as soon as you experience a good streamer strike! 

Strip-Set: Fly-Fishing Techniques, Tactics, & Patterns for Streamers by author George Daniel is a super comprehensive text all about the art and thrill of streamer fishing. It includes over 450 photos and illustrations of casting and presenting various streamer patterns to various species of gamefish.

Step by step sections are particularly helpful for learning to master some of the more difficult aspects of “hucking meat”. There are sections on properly reading water, trout behavior, night fishing and much more, all of which paint the entire picture of what there is to know about streamer fishing.

New to the art of fly tying? Learning how to create effective flies on your own vice is a daunting task that takes a lot of dedication and hard work – owning a few how-to books is perhaps the best way to jump-start your learning pace.

This book by Peter Gathercole may be from 2005, but it’s still one of the most relevant texts on fly tying for newcomers to the hobby. Yes, we realize a LOT has evolved in the fly tying world in the last 10 years, but the basics are more or less the same. Gathercole assumes the reader has no previous knowledge, so this is a truly informative book.

Step by step photos and instructions assist the reader in honing their tying skills and fly fishing know-how in general. There are furthermore some words on when and where to use certain fly patterns, and for which species of fish. Gathercole makes an effort to really teach the reader the full story (and potential applications) behind each fly.

While following along on youtube is great and having your own experienced mentor is better, owning a fly tying guide is still massively helpful for accelerated learning. Add this valuable fly fishing tool to your fly-tying space or give it as a gift to an up and coming angler – chances are it will result in some productive days fishing down the road!  

If you’re shopping for a fly tier or you yourself have a passion for creation on the vice, The Fly-Tying Bible is a must-have fly fishing book. Trout and salmon fishermen, in particular, will tear through this book with enthusiasm.

The author Peter Gathercole is a renowned angler and fly tier who has a knack for teaching through writing and photographs. Although this book is getting to be a bit dated (2003), fly tiers will still find the information within to be timeless. 

Whether you’re new to fly tying or have some experience there’s a lot to learn from this book. Each of the 100 fly patterns featured has its own two-page spread with detailed, captioned photos and step by step instructions for tying. This book will provide you with guidance on those tricky patterns and perhaps even inspire you to try some bugs you haven’t thought of fishing.

There are also some sections that cover fly tying tools and materials with some words of advice for beginners. All in all a great fly fishing book that will make a thoughtful gift or become a staple reference at your own fly tying station.

Catching fish on size 20 or even size 30 bugs can be quite the thrill, especially when you land a stud. Teeny-tiny flies are challenging to fish, and even more difficult to tie, but any accomplished fly fisherman knows that they are quite often the only thing on the menu.

There’s nothing more frustrating than casting a size 14 fly into a cacophony of size 20 microcaddis or white-winged Tricos. Ever see a complete and total orgy of nearly microscopic midges and have nothing in your box to appease the trout that are gorging themselves on them? Never again after reading through this technical book will you bang your head streamside. 

Ed Engle, an accomplished fly fisherman from the South Platte River, has written a wonderfully informative and helpful book with Tying Small Flies that will change the way you both tie and fly fish. A lot of us anglers avoid the smallest insects because of the layers of difficulty associated with both creating and actively fishing them, but with a book like this, you can overcome the challenges of micro-bugs.

Small-fly history and fishing techniques, as well as tying tools and materials, are all covered in this comprehensive text. Dive deeper into technical fly fishing no matter your current level of experience and conquer the challenges associated with small flies!  

Knots can be tough. Like really, really tough. I consider myself an experienced fly fisherman, but I’ll never stop learning and improving knot-tying techniques and know-how.

This streamside guide offers step by step detailed instructions for 20 different fishing knots and provides guidance and insight on all sorts of tactics for tying line to line, fly to line, and much more. Even expert anglers have a lot to gain from this simple little handbook by Larry V Notley.

Tippet to fly size charts, knot applications and easy tricks for dropper knots to yarn indicators make this little field guide an invaluable tool for anglers of all skill levels. Fly fishing books like this encourage you to push your boundaries and learn new skills as well as open your mind to new applications for skills you might already have.

It’s empowering when you know just the right knot for the challenge at hand and can execute it flawlessly. Whether you like it or not, knots are a HUGE part of fly fishing, so learn em’ good!  

Here’s one more guide for understanding trout and what drives their diet. This comprehensive text by author Dave Whitlock sheds light on certain trout behaviors and dietary habits as well as how to best imitate whatever it is that they’re eating. 

This book goes into fishing techniques in fairly deep detail regarding how to make your imitation bugs behave accordingly. Although it’s loaded with somewhat dense and advanced content, Whitlock has managed to write a book that’s a valuable resource for anglers of all levels.  

Learn how to better read water, identify different rising forms when the trout are picky, select proper flies and much more with this informative, and beautifully illustrated guide book!  

Nymphing is arguably the most difficult style of fly fishing. Nymph Fishing: New Angles, Tactics, and Techniques by George Daniel will shed new light on the challenges of nymphing and teach you to be a more patient, tactical and ultimately effective nymph fisherman.

This book was just published in 2018, so it’s up to speed with any and all new nymphing techniques and styles. The author assumes the reader has a firm grasp of the fundamentals of fly fishing, so this isn’t a book for the total novice fly angler.

If you’re ready to start learning the tough-stuff, this book will be an awesome resource.

As previously mentioned, nymphing is an exceedingly difficult style of fly fishing – fly fishermen that want to really jump into the world of indicators, split-shots and dropper rigs will find this book incredibly helpful as a guide and reference. Learn more tactics, catch more fish, it’s as simple as that!

Nymphing like a pro is something very few fly fishermen ever achieve. Even great nymphers rarely reach ‘expert’ level, but those who do likely read some literature on stream, bug and fish behavior along the way.

Simplistic Nymphing for Trout in Rivers & Streams by expert angler Mike Canino is the perfect text for both newcomers to nymphing as well as those with experience. 

This is a great fly fishing book for anglers at all levels of experience to learn more about the general dynamics of nymphing, how different streams and rivers behave, choosing the right fly patterns and even casting difficult rigs. This is the sort of text that gets you thinking about details you’ve never considered while on the water – details that are proven by the author to yield more fish!

This one will come off the shelf time and time again as you make greater strides into the nymphing world and hit new hurdles! Absolutely a great book to add to your fly fishing library or gift to a fellow angler.

A Hatch Guide is a beautiful thing. It’s easy to hit the stream, take a quick peek at what insects are seemingly present and then choose whatever is closest in your fly box, but truly matching the hatch and understanding the current biological dynamics of the stream takes a bit more patience.

This is a brilliantly composed hatch guide by renowned author Thomas Ames Jr. for New England anglers that you definitely shouldn’t sleep on if you’re from the region! 

Utilizing a hatch guide is one of the best ways to add to your fly fishing knowledge. Whether you read this book front to back twice in a row or simply refer to it here and there while on the water or at home, you’ll gain a TON of valuable and applicable information for fishing your home water. 

This book really digs into New England stream insects and how to best imitate them so stop using your intuition (no offense) no matter how dialed in you might think you are and add some cold, hard entomology to your bag of fly fishing tricks!   

Don’t worry, we didn’t forget about you Western fly fishermen! This is a top reviewed hatch guide for Western streams that will help you identify stream insects and effectively imitate them.

Author Jim Shollmeyer has compiled quite an informative text on western stream insects and where and when to find them with this masterpiece. He also offers some words of advice on which fishing techniques to use and how to read water, making this book more than just a hatch guide. 

If you’re an angler from out west but are interested in something a bit less dense then make sure to check out this pocket hatch guide by Dave Hughes; it’s another excellent option for learning about your regional stream entomology. 

Have a passion for stream entomology? How about a particular interest in Caddisflies? If you answered yes to either of those questions than you’ll love this super informative read from author, scientist, angler and photographer, Thomas Ames Jr.

Caddisflies: A Guide to Eastern Species for Anglers and Other Naturalists examines over 100 species in 55 different genera of Caddisflies that fly fishermen are most likely to come across (and therefore imitate) while fishing in Eastern North America.

If you’re the type of angler that really loves to know the story of the bugs you imitate while fishing, well this is the book for you.

Anglers with an annual abundance of Caddis where they fish will particularly love this book for its ability to shine new light on their home water. There’s a lot to learn about these fascinating aquatic insects, most of which can be applied to your fly fishing tactics and approach.

By learning some basic biology and identification skills, you’ll inherently up your game when it comes to fly selection and presentation. 

A fantastic book for bug nerds and fly fishermen alike that will help the reader to paint a more complete picture of their favorite ecosystems!   

If you consider yourself to be a nymph rig wizard, or have a fishing pal who is the king of complex indicator rigs, this could be a fun book to own or gift. 

Fishing Rigs: Rig diagrams and descriptions by author Richard Blackburn is a nitty-gritty, explanatory text on some of the more complicated yet brutally effective fishing rigs out there.

This book is not for the faint of heart, it will involve a fair amount of headbanging and frustration. Good news is, it will yield more fish as you begin to master some new fishing rigs and apply them on your home water. 

A brilliant guide and reference for your fly fishing library that will force you to acknowledge new approaches to reaching the fish, Fishing Rigs is bound to up your angling game and initiate a whole new learning curve! 

John Gierach is renowned as one of the masters of fishing writing. His experience as both a fisherman and a writer make his works very personal for the passionate angler. Trout Bum, written all the way back in 1988 is an instant classic that will hit home with every avid trout fisherman. 

This book is a compilation of essays and stories about fly fishing in and around the American Rockies. There’s witty and intelligent commentary about fly fishing and the joys and frustrations that come along with it making this more than just a coffee table book for skimming. Gierach’s fishing stories are hilarious and exciting to read and also offer inherent insight as to why we’re all so crazy about fly fishing.  

I personally also enjoy the tones from the time period that this book was written. In a sport that has experienced such a tremendous increase in popularity in recent years and therefore rapid evolution, it’s nice to read stories and recollections from simpler times when it was truly about the fishing and the fishing only.

Hats off to John Gierach for reminding us of why we’ve fallen in love with this passion that is fly fishing!

If you’re ready to take a break from the informative hatch guides, tying handbooks and technical nymphing texts you’re used to reading then check out this wild story of true crime! 

The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century is a fascinating account of how in 2009, a 20 year old American flutist by the name of Edwin Rist pulled off a peculiar robbery. His target? Feathers. That’s right, exotic feathers from a massive Ornithology collection located in the British Museum of Natural History. 

This is a list of the best fly fishing books, so yes, you guessed it – Edwin Rist enters the world of fanatic underground fly tying after making off with some of the rarest (and most striking) feathers in the world. It’s the kind of true story that’s almost too outrageous to believe!

A great offseason read or an awesome gift for any fly fishermen!

Perhaps the greatest fly fishing related book of all time, Norman Maclean’s A River Runs Through It is hailed as a timeless classic in both fly fishing circles and throughout the literature world. This isn’t an instructional guide or photobook, but rather a tale from the American West rife with fly fishing.  

This is a gripping story based on Maclean’s own experiences growing up in Western Montana in the early 1900s. It paints a vivid picture of life in the American West before the modern world swept over some of our country’s most pristine and wild places.

Every fly fisherman ought to read this novel at some point in their life, preferably early on! The insights and language used to describe the Montana wilderness remind us of why we love to fish so dearly and will have you dusting off your fly rod in no time.     

This particular edition has a foreward by Robert Redford (director of the 1992 film version of the book) giving you a bit more to chew on than the original. Don’t neglect fly fishing culture and skip out on this book – you’ll be glad you didn’t!