Pheasant Tail Simplicity: Recipes and Techniques for Successful Fly Fishing

by Yvon Chouinard

176 pages, Paperback

Published October 14, 2025

Reviews

[Randal White · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been fly fishing for fifty years, and tying my own flies for thirty years. I have watched the popularity of the sport rise and fall over the years. What I have observed is that with each year, writers/fishermen/companies all have tended to insist on "the latest thing" in fly fishing/tying, insisting that if you buy their product, you will have fish jumping into your net. New materials abound. And with it, the cost of the hobby. It's easy to spend thousands and thousands of dollars so you are sure that you have the newest/best materials. To which I say, baloney. The fish today are the same fish that were there twenty years ago, a hundred years ago, or a thousand years ago. Granted, they may be a little warier, due to the increased pressure. Butt they are still creatures with a pea sized brain, who operate on the idea that they have to eat to survive. All the new equipment in the world will not help you if you are not fishing in the areas where the fish are, cannot make a decent cast, don't have the ability to read the water, and learn a little patience.
Which is why I absolutely loved the author's new book. Imagine, almost all of the flies that you actually need can be tied using the tail feathers of a pheasant! No UV dyed material, ASB material from packaging, or on and on. Just the tail feathers of a fairly common bird!
And then the authors proceed to show you the flies, how to tie them, and how to fish them. With simple, easy to understand instructions! And they punctuate the lessons with stories of how they themselves have used the flies.
This is a great book. I am really surprised that the local fly shops are promoting it so heavily, Don't they realize that if everyone could tie their own flies, with some very simple materials, that they might really cut into the fly shops profits?
If you are a brand new tier, I would recommend you take a beginning fly tying class, and then use this book heavily. It will save you thousands of dollars. If you are an older, more experienced tier, who is just tired of lugging around boxes and boxes of flies, this one is for you. If you are a somewhat experienced tier, who is tired of spending all your extra money on the newest and greatest materials, this one is for you.
But it, study it, and go out and catch some fish!

[Paul Haan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A refreshing joy to read, with a pleasant mix of instruction, technique, stories, and observations. Attention is focused on choices that matter to the angler, not the salesman. The instructional fly tying pages are focused, elegant, and clear. The book itself, from the paper used to the typesetting, design and images, is a thing of beauty. The attention on humble lessons from personal experience is unassuming and welcoming, a notable change from other more technical or, heaven forbid, haughty tomes.