I've long maintained that I can spot a Ron Alcott salmon fly at 10 paces. There's something about the hump in the wing and the fly's overall neatness. But I never knew exactly how he produced the effect, or where it comes from. Now I do. With publication of his new book, "Building Classic Salmon Flies' (Countryman Press, Woodstock, Vermont, $35; Edited by Arleigh. D. Richardson III, Foreword by Dick Stewart) he reveals all; or, if not all, certainly most of what he is capable of rendering in clear, straightforward prose. It is a fine book and a big help to us tiers of salmon flies, whether we are beginners, intermediates, or advanced. Yes, even advanced tiers will benefit, for I know none who are never on the outlook for new tricks and techniques, and there are numerous useful ones described in the book.

Alcott immediately acknowledges his influences: T. E. Pryce-Tannatt's "How To Dress Salmon Flies" (London, 1914, reprinted 1986) is the chief one, closely followed by Major J. H. Hale's "How To Tie Salmon Flies", (1916). Today Pryce-Tannatt's book is one of the revered ones and no library of a salmon-fly aficionado is complete without it. Because Alcott is so strongly influenced by Pryce-Tannatt, it is perhaps sensible to look at him first.

Pryce-Tannatt lived long (as did George Kelson) and his career spanned two centuries, but being born later he was able to use photography to show us what he is after. What a big difference it makes. With Kelson we must fight our way though his brilliant but tangled prose, reading and rereading the text, then falling back on those incredible illustrations. (Incidentally, Kelson's Salmon Flv is back in print on both sides of the Atlantic, and The Land and Water Salmon Flies, assembled from the published "Kelson" cards, can be obtained only from Britain.) The Kelson chroma-litho plates may be inspiring, but they resemble no known arrangement and shape of materials and are next to impossible to duplicate at the vise - if anybody is interested in trying (and I am sure there are some of us who already have tried).

The photographs in Pryce-Tannatt's book, however, are of flies that look highly familiar to tiers of today. They are modem flies, and after going back to look at them again while reading Alcott it is clear how strongly they have influenced him. The two men perhaps comprise the best in what might be called the contemporary classic salmon style and serve as excellent models. Before departing from them, say, to tie more elaborately or in the style of somebody else (Traherne, for instance, or the modem-day "skins" of Cohen or Schmookler), one should know the Pryce-Tannatt style well, or else the chance for serious error looms large.

Alcott points out that continuous practice is imperative to improvement and quotes Pryce-Tannatt on the subject. I shall do so, too: "I am however well aware that the real expert will be able to detect in the colored plates those flies which show undoubted blemishes and perhaps to trace therefrom equally as well as I can, the flies which were dressed nearly two years ago and those which were dressed only a few weeks back." These flies, he indicates, look "jagged". Well, Pryce-Tannatt has the right, I suppose, to call them so, but I do not; they are excellent flies and the slightly Arnold ragged look is the one I prefer, at least for fishing flies. The concept of fishing flies must ever lie in the backs of our minds, even while we aspire toward museum specimens. A certain shaggy look I find greatly appealing. The fish like them, too.

Pryce-Tannatt speaks of "soul" in terms of flies and tying. It is a surprisingly modern term and has bad recent amplifications for society at large. Alcott is quick to echo his master and to add to the aesthetic statement, when at the end of his book he says, "Since there are no hard and fast standards in any aspect of building salmon flies, the expression of ability, ingenuity, and individuality is not compromised by a borrowed idea. Everyone who builds featherwing salmon flies has artistic license." (Page 160.) At the same time Alcott is keen on us knowing the literature and working in the classic tradition-even if it is a modem version of it. For instance, he quotes PryceTannatt on the use of "substitute materials" and says he prefers the term "alternative materials." The rare materials of Kelson's day were already getting scare by Pryce-Tannatt's time and substitutes (I mean alternates) needed to be found, or else tying would grind to a stop or become illegal. Ever more so the difficulty in our time. So Alcott advocates the use, say, of mottled turkey in the place of speckled bustard. Most of us would agree to do this, unless we had found a source of legal bustard at a reasonable price. (A reasonable price, of course, is a relative term, and tying as beautifully as Paul Schmookler does, for instance, may well be dependent upon having a private source of exotic feathers or else a private income. As Trevor Gong pointed out to me the other day, "We have come to the time of the $100 fly."

I misunderstood his remark and replied, "Most good tiers get more than that for a full-dressed fly." He said, 'No, what I mean is that the hook and the materials alone will cost $100." Good point and well taken. Indeed they do, in many cases, if one is determined to be fully authentic. But Alcott tells us that we need only find common, inexpensive alternatives to tie well, and that this choice is the same one tiers of old had to contend with. It is a key point. Still, I can see the difference between speckled bustard and turkey in a mixed wing, and I am not quite able to get past it.

Alcott takes us step-by-step through the tying of builtwing salmon flies incorporating all of the basic elements, beginning with a tag tied according to Hale. The fly is a Parson. Since flies vary according to type and style, he follows the Parson with a Doctor, not repeating any of the common steps and delineating only the ones of departure, such as the uniform silver tinsel body. This next leads to tying a Durham Ranger, with its floss and spun-dubbing body and veiled tippet wings. They are excellent choices and the classic ones. Oddly, Pout Jorgensen uses much the same patterns as illustrations, but nowhere nearly so well delineates what is involved in each of the steps. Jorgensen is not mentioned in Alcott's text, almost as though Alcott does not want to acknowledge the man's contribution to salmon fly tying. He does discuss Eric Taverner - whose book, along with Jorgensen's, got many of us started.

The book expands nicely on an article Alcott wrote for The Fly Fisher several years ago, which helped myself and others find alternative materials for winging and led to the commercial production of dyed substitutes, such as the tiny neck feathers from ringnecked pheasants for blue chatterer, toucan, and Indian crow. He also champlioned the use of various turkey feathers. Without these substitutes now so readily available many of us would be stopped dead at various critical points in our tying. While Jorgensen found and marketed good substitutes for dubbing seal bodies, Alcott's contribution lies more in locating alternative winging material sources, which is perhaps more difficult.

Alcott's text is drawn from the many classes in tying he has conducted over the past couple of decades. He is one of the leaders in the creation of the salmon-fly-tying renaissance we all share in. This book will take a beginner with ordinary skills in tying trout wet flies and,. if he or she has the patience and willingness to redo a step until it is correct, show him or her how to tie our favorite kind of fly, right from the first day. The book includes twelve color plates of individual flies, plus dressings for 25 more. The step-by-step black and white photographs are by the author and the drawings at the beginning of each chapter (and elsewhere) are by his daughter Rhonda and Paul Anthony. I found them to be similar to those of Milton Weiler, who did the ones for Joe Bates's 1975 book, "Art of the Atlantic Salmon Fly".

A few significant tips from Alcott: use a ruler to measure out proportions and mark the distances on the underbody, steam your crests for toppings and tails, back up and re-do whenever necessary, floss tags should taper, tie in body hackles by their tips so the fibers increase in length towards the head, throats are to be at least as long as the body hackles and often should be longer (use schlappen). The height of the wing is equal to the gape of the hook, wings extend beyond the bend of the hook and crest tail tips are meant to touch crest toppings precisely (and his always do), heads are blunt and bullet-shaped. Practice, practice, practice. Do not move on until satisfied with what has gone before.

I mentioned the current renaissance of the salmon fly and how we all participate in it. Most important is bringing back the classic literature and making it available other than in the rare book room of a few libraries. In Britain, Justin Knowles is doing just this with The Flyfisher's Classic library, a number of volumes of which are now currently available.

The books run $100-$300, depending on the rate of exchange, and are partly leather bound, partly cloth, and boxed.

In the United State, John Culler and Sons is also reprinting the classic texts, most of which are in the public domain and are photocopied for facsimile editions. They are intended for collectors and are available by subscription or may be individually purchased in three editions: boxed walnut and full leather bindings in a special deluxe edition limited to 380 numbered copies, $150, plus $5 shipping; goat-skin leather-bound, $49.95, plus $3.50 shipping; and in some instance a full cloth trade edition at about $40, plus shipping.

So far Culler has published a fine reproduction of Kelson's The Salmon Fly, complete with all the original ads that paid for its publication and a good new introduction by Jared C. Labdell. A Francis Francis is due off the press presently and in another six weeks the William Blacker. Some of these books will be discussed in a future issue of The Salmon Flyer.

Bob will become a regular contributor to The Salmon Flyer.