Introduction

Within fly tying, and within steelhead and salmon angling, Spey flies occupy a substantial niche. These flies are exceptionally popular in America, not only on the steelhead coast, but nationwide among fly tying enthusiasts, and they enjoy a substantial popularity worldwide; their popularity has gained renewed enthusiasm with the latest generation of young tiers and anglers (the private Facebook page The Spey Tyer has 3,600 members). The author is the worlds leading authority on the history and tying of Spey flies simply because they caught his fancy in the 1980s and over the years he has conducted more research on the topic by far than anyone else. His vision for this new incarnation of his originalSpey Flies(Amato Publications, 2002) includes a tremendous upgrade from the originalan entirely new book, in factbecause he has uncovered so many historicalfacts, intrigues, people, and fliesthat have never been compiled in a single volume, or even presented in any form to the interested audience. The originalSpey Flieswas graphically rich; the new book is far more so.