Fishing Throwbacks

This month’s fishing throwback is a color plate for two winged flies from Leonard West’s “The Natural Trout Fly and Its imitation. First published in a private edition and revised and enlarged in a second edition in 1921. In his forward, West stressed the importance that even from a sporting point of view, the angler possessing a strong knowledge of entomology has a great advantage, and is able to readily select a suitable fly whereas one without is “liable to fall into mistakes which appear grotesque to the initiated.” His first chapter focuses on entymology while subsequent chapters discuss patterns and methods for wrapping. -From the University of California Libraries