Fly tying – What a way to spend your down time when you’re not actually fishing. You create some flies  (some of which are stand-alone pieces of art) tie them to your leader, present them to your chosen target which is usually fish, and more often than not they proceed to open their mouth and inhale, with an expectation of an easy meal. Wrong, that’s an ‘epic fool’ Mr Fish.

I recently got my furry mits on a set of Fly Cards, by Daniel Hackett of In Season Fly Fishing. This tying resource is  described as ‘a series of Australian fly tying patterns’ but upon closer inspecion, some of the proven patterns would be just at home in New Zealand if not the rest of the world.

The presentation is superb and the photography is top notch. There is a photo of a completed pattern at the top, all the ingredients required in the middle and followed by a second photo showing one of the more difficult stages of the nominated pattern. On the back of each card is an easily digestable 4-6 step process and a brief history of each pattern, which is always very interesting, especially for flies that appear in all local Tasmanian fly boxes like the Possum Emerger and Shaving Brush.

The cards are about twice the length of an iPhone and just 7cm wide, making for a handy reference guide that can pretty much be stashed anywhere you like. Great when you need to grab a few cold beers, your tying gear and race around to your mates place just in time for the footy. They are held together by a ‘screw’ in the bottom left corner, allowing you to easily flip through the patterns which are in alphabetical order. It also seems you can purchase future additions, undo the screw and whack in some more fish-slaying recipes.

In a wise move from these guys, the cards come in a matte finish so you don’t burn your retina when you sit them under the tying light, perfect.

With the RRP sitting at $34.95 these are a healthy addtion to ones resource library. Stick one in your top pocket. Grab one here