Not quite sure how to word this....

[Terrestrial12]

Im looking for suggestions on books to read. I have a small little library I'm working on building. As I put in the description, I'm not really sure how to word this but I really enjoy books like Lisenring/hidy's wet fly book (obviously) or books like "the dry fly and fast water". Books where the author seem to understand tying, materials, fishing, and reading water on a much deeper level than the public at large. These guys seems to be savants of some kind. Lisenring seemed to understand materials and flies on a much deeper than "face value" level. LaBranch talks about reading water and fishing as if he's a freaking ninja. I find myself stopping every few sentences just to ponder what he has said and get a mental picture. I read it, and immediately just started it over from the beginning reading it a second time. And I'm not even a big dry fly purist. Quite the opposite. The art of the wet fly and fishing the flymph I've read several times. I'm looking for more than just plates and patterns, especially by folks from an earlier Era where they seemed to be more in tune with things. Almost on a zen type of level. Does this even make sense or do I sound like an idiot?

[jcwillow777]

You're gonna get a boatload info on books here. I'll start.

Dave Hughes - Wet Flies, 2nd edition
Sylvester Nemes - he has several
Robert L. Smith - The North Country Fly (best price I've found - anglebooks.com)
Malcolm Greenhalgh - The Fly-Fisher's Handbook & Trout Fishing in Rivers
Mike Harding - A Guide To North Country Flies
Leslie Magee - The North Country Tradition
William Stewart - The Practical Angler
T. E. Pritt - North Country Flies
Edmonds and Lee - Brook and River Trouting
Roger Woolley - Modern Trout Fly Dressing
& The Art of the Wet Fly
Roger Fogg - A Handbook of North Country Flies & Wet Fly Tying and Fishing
G. E. M. Skues - several books
Frank Sawyer - Nymphs and the Trout and
Keeper of the Stream
J. N. Watson - Angling With The Fly and The Forgotten Flies of Roger Woolley

Many of the books listed are out of print. Some can be found at anglebooks.com in the UK.
And there are many more that others on the forum will mention.

Also, since there are a boatload of flyfishing books that are public domain, you can download PDF versions of many books. I think I've downloaded over 200.

2 places are:
googlebooks.com
archive.org

It is a never ending journey, enjoy the ride!

[Ron Eagle Elk]

You're gonna get a boatload info on books here. I'll start.

Dave Hughes - Wet Flies, 2nd edition
Sylvester Nemes - he has several
Robert L. Smith - The North Country Fly (best price I've found - anglebooks.com)
Malcolm Greenhalgh - The Fly-Fisher's Handbook & Trout Fishing in Rivers
Mike Harding - A Guide To North Country Flies
Leslie Magee - The North Country Tradition
William Stewart - The Practical Angler
T. E. Pritt - North Country Flies
Edmonds and Lee - Brook and River Trouting
Roger Woolley - Modern Trout Fly Dressing
& The Art of the Wet Fly
Roger Fogg - A Handbook of North Country Flies & Wet Fly Tying and Fishing
G. E. M. Skues - several books
Frank Sawyer - Nymphs and the Trout and
Keeper of the Stream
J. N. Watson - Angling With The Fly and The Forgotten Flies of Roger Woolley

Many of the books listed are out of print. Some can be found at anglebooks.com in the UK.
And there are many more that others on the forum will mention.

Also, since there are a boatload of flyfishing books that are public domain, you can download PDF versions of many books. I think I've downloaded over 200.

2 places are:
googlebooks.com
archive.org

It is a never ending journey, enjoy the ride!

That's a really good list to get you started. The fine gentleman who started me on the slippery slope of "wee wets", Donald Nicholson, started me reading Roger Fogg's A Handbook of North Country Flies. The other two volumes soon followed.

You might also consider downloading Donald's Compendium that he so graciously shared with us. You can find instruction to download at viewtopic.php?f=23&t=5326

[ronr]

Interesting that the top three would have certainly been in my top three as well....

[Roadkill]

To these great suggestions, I would add some from my library on various aspects of fly fishing...

WHAT THE TROUT SAID by Datus Proper
Tying and Fishing the Fuzzy Nymphs, by E. H. "Polly" Rosborough
What Fish See: Understanding optics and color shifts for designing lures and flies by Colin J. Kageyayama
FISHING THE DRY FLY AS A LIVING INSECT by Leonard M. Wright, JR (IMO, applies to wet fly fishing as well)
A Revolutionary Approach to Successful Fly Fishing SWIMMING FLIES by Georges Odier
Trout Fishing by Joe Brooks
NYMPH FISHING FOR LARGER TROUT by Charles E. Brooks
Drag-Free Drift Leader Design and Presentation Techniques for Fly Fishing by Joseph A Kissane

Tight lines and happy feather bending!

[Terrestrial12]

I appreciate yalls time and input! A lot of these are on my list but most I either cant find, or can't afford. Even used. Roadkill your list seems to be more along the lines of what I after. Insightful kinds of writing. Even tho I'm a soft hackle fanatic and weirdly obsessed with north country flies I'm trying to avoid books like "north country flies". Just plates and recipes. I was really excited to get it and it's not very useful at all. Very little writing at all, poor descriptions, inaccurate "pictures". I'm wanting to pick up Robert Smiths book but I'm wondering is it about the same?

[Mike62]

Everything stated so far, and a couple more.
Any of Oliver Kite's books.
'Summer on the Test' -John Waller hills. Not a how-to, but a wonderful record of British chalk stream fishing at the turn of the 20th.
'Trout Hunting' -Bob Wyatt
Ed Engel has some good ideas floating around.
Rick Hafele, too.
'Sunshine and the dry fly' -JW Dunne. It may not be a soft hackle forward, but it's a fascinating look at a different way of looking at fishing.

Other than Hills book, which can be hard to acquire, the others are pretty easily found, and affordable. (Maybe not the Dunne...)

[Terrestrial12]

Mike62 I was absolutely FASCINATED with sunshine and the dry fly! Pretty out there, and not practical in the slightest but extremely interesting. That's exactly the type of writing I'm talking about. People who just seem to see and understand the fly, materials and fishing on a deeper level. Not just a book of pictures and recipes with a short blurb...but more theories and advanced thought. I loved it! I wish I could get my hands in a bottle of that "sunshine oil" just to display in my collection!!