Malcolm Greenhalgh

Malcolm Greenhalgh was a freshwater/estuarine ecologist, before he became a full-time wildlife/angling author and broadcaster ten years ago. His books include Trout fishing in Rivers; Lake, Lough and Reservoir Trout Fishing; The Wild Trout; and The Complete Salmon Fisher (Vol 1: The Life of the Salmon and Vol II : Salmon on the Fly have just been published, and his mammoth book on natural trout flies and their imitation will be published next spring). Besides his own extensive river fishing in NW England, Malcolm fishes for salmon, sea trout and trout regularly in rivers, lakes, and the sea throughout Britain, Ireland and Europe, and has also fished many salmon and trout waters in North America.

The books he has published include the following:

• Trout Fishing in Rivers (1992, George Philip)
• Lake, Loch and Reservoir Fishing (1987, Witherby)
• The Complete Salmon Fisher I - Life of the Salmon (1996, Blandford)
• The Complete Salmon Fisher II - Salmon on the Fly (1996, Blandford)
• The Wild Trout, with Rod Sutterby (1989, George Philip)
• The Salmon and Sea Trout Fisher's Handbook, with Hugh Falkus (1997, Excellent Press)
• The Complete Fly-Fishers' Handbook, with Denys Ovenden (1997, Dorling Kindersely)
• The Complete Book of Fly Fishing (1998, Mitchell Beazley UK and Readers Digest in USA)
• Freshwater Fish (1999, Mitchell Beazley)
• Pocket Guide to Fly-Fishing for Sea Trout (Rolling River Publications)
• Pocket Guide to Identifying t6he Commoner Insects eaten by Trout and Grayling (Rolling River Publications)

Taff Price

Taff Price was born in 1934 in the small seaside town of Barmouth in North Wales. Barmouth was a paradise for children, and his lifetime interest in insects stemmed from there. What would his mother think now - were she were alive - for her son with his bedroom of creepy crawlies has grown up into someone who actually collected insects on his foreign travels for the British Natural History Museum? She would probably still think him a little strange.

With his father away during the war and with both grandfathers either too old or too busy it was left to his maiden aunt Win to show him the gentle art of fly-fishing, catching small brown trout from the tiny Welsh streams.

After meeting John Veniard of E.Veniard Ltd one of the world's foremost fly-tying materials' companies, fly tying became a way of life; he published Lures for Game Coarse and Sea Fishing, Rough Stream Trout Flies and Stillwater Flies. He spent four years helping John Veniard retail fly tying materials to customers all around the world and became Vice President of the Fly Dressers Guild, an honorary position he still holds. Fly Patterns (An International Guide) was then published. He has lectured and given demonstrations to clubs and at fly fishing fairs in the UK, Spain, Slovenia, USA, Germany, Belgium, Holland and South Africa. He has appeared on British television and has performed in a few videos. He has also featured a few times on radio in the BBC Natural History programme. His two latest books published in recent years are Tying and Fishing the Sedge and Tying and Fishing the Nymph.

Over the last decade he has fished many parts of the world often accompanied by his wife Madeleine (who incidentally is a much better fly fisher than him - damn it) and by his long time friend, the writer Darrel Martin from the USA. Taff's philosophy on fly-fishing has always been: never to take himself or others in the fly fishing world too seriously, for fishing must be fun - if it ever ceases to be fun then it is not worth doing. Today, officially retired, he is studying hard not to be a boring old fart, which is assisted by his singing and playing guitar at parties - if he has had enough whisky to oil the vocal chords.

Mick once managed the Queen Mother Fishery, a west-London 'concrete bowl' which became famous for the large, difficult trout it supported. Pioneering a number of techniques, Mick managed to land many of the reservoir's larger residents. He now manages a London-based tackle shop and his intimate knowledge of the stillwater scene makes him a focal point for anything new in tackle and flies. His great love is the Irish loughs, and two weeks every spring you'll not find him at the tackle shop, he'll be on a boat, somewhere in Ireland!

John Goddard

John Goddard is internationally recognised as an authority on all aspects of fly fishing. A respected contributor to many angling publications, he is also the author of ten books on fishing. An expert entomologist and photographer, he is also acknowledged as the designer of a number of today's most popular trout flies.

The books he has published include the following (the first three are out of print):

• Trout Fly Recognition (1967)
• Trout Flies of Stillwater (1969)
• Big Fish from Stillwater (1977)
• Superflies of Stillwater (1977)
• The Trout and The Fly (with Brian Clarke) (1980)
• Stillwater Flies, How and When to Fish Them (1982)
• Fly Fishing for Trout (with Brian Clarke) (pulished America 1993)
• John Goddard's Trout Fishing Techniques (1996)

Davy Wotton, once a full-time professional fly tyer, today produces fly dressing materials which sell throughout the world. His prowess is becoming well-known in the United States (where he now spends much of his time) as well as in the UK; he is a thinking, observant angler and a gifted fly tyer, and has many fly patterns and techniques credited to his name. He currently guides fly fishing trips for all species to locations throughout the US and further afield, including Mexico and Chile. Davy is a qualified casting and fly tying instructor and has fished for his home country, Wales, and his home river is the Usk.

Peter Lapsley

Peter Lapsley has been fishing for trout, sea trout and grayling in the UK and overseas for over 45 years, and owned and ran a successful rod-letting trout fishery in Hampshire for several years in the 1980s. He is a member of the Game Angling Instructors Association and holds the Salmon & Trout Association National Instructor's Certificate (STANIC) and the Advanced Professional Game Angling Instructor's (APGAI) Trout, Sea Trout and Fly Tying certificates.

Peter has written, co-written or edited nine books on fly fishing including The Bankside Book of Stillwater Trout Flies, Trout from Stillwaters, Successful Small-Stillwater Trouting, River Trout Flyfishing, The Complete Fly Fisher, Fly Fishing for Trout, Fishing for Falklands Sea Trout, and the best sellers, Fly Fishing by J. R. Hartley, and J. R. Hartley Casts Again. His tenth and latest book, River Fly-fishing: the Complete Guide is scheduled for publication in September 2003. He has contributed countless articles to a wide range of British and overseas game angling and field sports magazines, and has been writing for Fly Fishing & Fly Tying since the very first issue, back in 1992.

Although he now lives and works in London, fishing chiefly on the chalk streams of southern England, Peter retains a passion for the lovely wild-trout waters of Scotland, Wales and Ireland, of the North of England and of the West Country, and he fishes extensively overseas, mainly for trout in the United States and for sea-trout in the Falkland Islands. He is married with two grown up children.

Mick Huffer

Mick Huffer relaxes from a busy marketing job for a major pharmaceutical company in Nottingham by tying flies and fly fishing. Familiar with many of the Midland's stillwaters, Mick is a skilled and thinking angler as well as an expert fly dresser, and is a qualified fly casting and fly tying instructor. When he can get away, you may find him on a Scottish salmon river, but the past few summers have seen him making a bee line for the saltwater fly fishing delights of Florida. Mick has contributed to the Textbook Tying series since the magazine's inception in 1990.

Terry Griffiths

Terry Griffiths first tied flies at the age of four, and then began fishing on his home river, the Welsh Dee. From that point he fished almost everyday (except Sundays) until he was 18. He learnt to tie flies in his hands, so didn't use a fly vice for 24 years, and didn't own one until he came to live in London. He worked on the updated edition of Pryce Tannatt, Taff Price's Rough Stream Flies, and taught Stewart Canham - who later appeared in Judith Dunham's book Salmon Flies. He has contributed photographic work to many books, including the Merlin Unwin series of fly pattern books. Terry believes the rudiments of fly tying are crucial to full enjoyment of the hobby, and admits to having one of the biggest fly tying collections of fur and feather in the UK. Although he spends much of his life looking through a camera viewfinder, he claims not to have a picture of himself, but would like acquaintances of old to know that he has now shaved off his beard.

Bruce Sandison confesses to being one of Britain's best-known purveyors of angling lies. His book The Trout Lochs of Scotland is described by his son as being "the finest work of angling fiction ever written". He is the author of six other books on game fishing, travel, Scottish history and the environment and he has been The Scotsman angling correspondent for 16 years. His other interests include hill walking, ornithology, conservation, and keeping clear of the family pets: a young Siamese cat called Milkwood, and Hareton, a thug-like Yorkshire terrier puppy. He claims his most significant achievement is the ability to tie a blood-knot in under ten seconds; a skill he says he has acquired through teaching handless members of his tribe to fish.

Alastair Gowans is best known for his universally popular Ally's Shrimp fly. He also holds APGAI qualifications in salmon casting and fly dressing coupled with an uncanny ability to hook salmon on a fly. For the past couple of years he has travelled to Canada to instruct in the use of the double-handed rod.