Fly Fishing, first published in 1899 by English author and diplomat Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon (1862–1933), is a book about fly fishing English chalk streams and spate rivers for trout and salmon. It includes reminisces about the author's fly fishing experiences on Hampshire rivers. The book was in print for nearly 50 years and has been extensively reprinted in the 21st century.

Synopsis

The work deals with fly fishing for trout, sea trout and salmon. Grey places presents fishing for sea trout as the pinnacle of fly fishing and describes the challenge of fly fishing for Atlantic salmon. On trout, he was the first writer of importance on the dry-fly who really knew what the wet-fly meant. Grey was an expert angler and he detailed much that is useful and instructive in prose that is clear and vigorous. Every October, Grey would obsess about the coming salmon season, six months away: "I lay awake in bed fishing in imagination the pools which I was not going to see before March at the earliest." The work is known for its turns of phrase, such as his 'exquisite blend of joy and fear' upon hooking a trout, and the 'delicious sense of impending discovery' the alert angler has on the stream.

Author

Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon KG, PC, FZL, DL (25 April 1862 – 7 September 1933), better known as Sir Edward Grey, Bt, was a British Liberal statesman. He served as Foreign Secretary from 1905 to 1916, the longest continuous tenure of any person in that office. He is probably best remembered for his remark at the outbreak of the First World War: "The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our time". Ennobled as Viscount Grey of Fallodon in 1916, he was Ambassador to the United States between 1919 and 1920 and Leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Lords between 1923 and 1924. He also gained distinction as an ornithologist and angler.

Grey was a contemporary of angler G. E. M. Skues at Winchester College, but it is unknown whether or not the two ever met or fished together while attending school. At the time of his writing Fly Fishing, Grey was considered one of the finest dry fly fisherman in England and a master of the Hampshire chalkstreams.

Contents From 1st edition: Chapter I – Introductory Chapter II – Dry Fly Fishing Chapter III – Dry Fly Fishing (continued) Chapter IV – Winchester Chapter V – Trout Fishing With The Wet Fly Chapter VI – Sea Trout Fishing Chapter VII – Salmon Fishing Chapter VIII – Tackle All Chapter IX – Experiments In Stocking Chapter X – Some Memories Of Early Days Index

List of illustrations

The Haunt of the Trout, from a drawing by Jessie MacGregor – Frontispiece Hampshire Water Meadow, from a drawing by Jessie MacGregor Dry Flies and Wet Flies Winchester Cathedral, from a drawing by William Hyde St. Catherine's Hill, Winchester, from a drawing by William Hyde Where Sea Trout Run, from a drawing by Jessie MacGregor Salmon and Sea Trout Flies A Northumberland Burn, from a drawing by Jessie MacGregor (The two plates of flies have been copied from specimens supplied by Messrs. Hardy of Alnwick)

Reviews The London Times, in noting the first edition of Fly Fishing, stated:

John Hills in his A History of Fly Fishing for Trout (1921) praises Grey's prose:

James Robb, in Notable Angling Literature (1945) ranks Grey's Fly Fishing very highly:

Editions From: Hampton's Angling Bibliography First edition, April 1899, J. M. Dent, London, illustrated by Jessie MacGregor Second edition, July 1899, J. M. Dent, London, illustrated by Jessie MacGregor Third edition, 1901, J. M. Dent, London, illustrated by Jessie MacGregor Fourth edition, 1907, J. M. Dent, London, illustrated by Arthur Rackham Fifth edition, 1920, J. M. Dent, London, illustrated by Jessie MacGregor and William Hyde Sixth edition, 1928, J. M. Dent, London Seventh edition, 1930, J. M. Dent, London, illustrated by Eric Fitch Daglish Seventh edition (large paper), 1930, J. M. Dent, London Eighth edition, 1934, J. M. Dent, London, illustrated by Eric Fitch Daglish Ninth edition, 1947, J. M. Dent, London, illustrated by Eric Fitch Daglish Ninth edition (French), Peche A La Mouche, 1947, Librairie des Champs-Élysées, Paris From Modern Fishing Classics Series edition, 1984, Andre Deutsch Ltd, London Pranava Books, 2009. Reprinted from 1920 edition. Reprint of 1899 edition, Adegi Graphics LLC, New York, 2011

Further reading

See also Bibliography of fly fishing

Notes