Book Review: The Fly Tier's Benchside ReferenceWritten by Cameron Larsen
The Fly Tier's Benchside Reference was written by Ted Leeson and Jim Schollmeyer, and published in 1998 (wow time flies) by Frank Amato Publications. It contains 444 pages of which 7 make up index. When this book first came out ( I honestly thought it was just a couple of years ago) it cost exactly $100.00, now I have seen new ones for $68.00, and used ones for less than that. The book was billed as holy grail of fly tying and with good reason. The book simply covers every technique known to fly tying, and usually gives you more than one technique to accomplish a fly tying feat. For example, if you want to have a woven body (something I avoided in my twelve years of commercial fly tying), Leeson and Schollmeyer show you in great detail, 'The Banded Weave', 'The Parallel Weave', 'The Mossback Weave', 'The Overhand Weave', 'The Pott's Weave,', 'The Half-Hitch Weave,' 'The Criss-Cross Weave,' 'The Spotted Strip Weave,' 'The Mottled Weave,' and 'The Crochet Weave'. Not only does book describe how to do them, with very clear descriptions and more importantly pictures, but it will also tell you what purpose of each technique is, including materials it is used for, and effects of each different weave. And so it goes detailing each technique, how to tie parachute hackle, how to mount posts, how to tie split hackle tails, biot bodies, hair wings. Nine pages on spent wings, 33 on downwings, 17 on legs. You get idea. If there is ever a daunting fly tying procedure that you have never attempted or have attempted only to be frustrated so much you went straight back to first fly you ever tied for reassurance your coordination hadn't left you altogether, then this book WILL help you. And it will help you immensely. The book is different than many fly tying books, in way it is organized. Not by fly or type of fly. In fact it isn't a book of patterns or about insects or even frankly about flies. It is a book of techniques and it is organized as such. It has 15 chapters and begins with a very brief summary of fly tying materials. Something that reader of this book should already have well versed. However it does have a few handy charts and pictures. And gives a very brief explanation types of hair and feathers etc. . It then goes on to give you several methods of de-barbing hooks and then sharpening them, (yes even chemically sharpened hooks need to be honed at some time.) Then Leeson and Schollmeyer go into thread handling, again it seems perfunctory. But finally fun starts. With 21 methods of mounting and trimming materials. One thing about how-to books, I always find interesting is author's ability to breakdown and name procedures you probably discovered all on your own, and never thought twice about them. This books is no different, but it does force you to think about fly tying, taking it off auto-pilot here and there is always a good way to question and improve.
| | Forward paddlingWritten by Jakob Jelling
Forward paddling seems easy, but there is room for improvement.Forward paddling is probably most under-appreciated and under-practiced kayaking move. However, as you might imagine, this is most important move that you can learn. Depending on where you're going to be kayaking, and how long of a kayak tour you intend to go on, good forward paddling may end up saving you a lot of time, effort, and muscle strain. The most important thing to remember about your forward paddling, however is that you should only work on improving it if you feel that you can't do everything that you want to be able to do while you're in your kayak. First, you should make sure that you have good posture in your kayak. It's important that you sit up in your kayak instead of leaning back. This way, you'll be able to make all of your paddling strokes as powerful as possible. You should also make sure that your feet are right up against footrest inside of your kayak. That way you'll have a more powerful stroke than you would otherwise.
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