Edward Ringwood Hewitt, 1927

ewitt is one of the elder statesmen of American fly fishing and deservedly so. He is less well-known in Europe, although his work has indirectly influenced generations of fishermen here.

The centrepiece of Secrets is the chapter called 'What the Fish Sees,' which is based on an extraordinary series of photographs which Hewitt took using a specially developed portable tank. This clever little device removed half the problems Ward had experienced at a stroke, by making it possible to take clear pictures of at very short ranges, which showed exactly (or at near enough exactly) how a trout sees a fly. Although the pictures are in black and white, they show very clearly the differences between naturals and artificials, as well as the way the light flashes caused by dry fly hackles indent the surface and the way the trout sees the wing separated from the body of the fly as it passes from the mirror to the window. In addition, he took some pictures of leaders and wet flies that still make interesting viewing all these decades later.

There wasn't much more to learn about dry flies after Hewitt, although later authors did expand greatly on the subject. In some senses, Secrets was a missed opportunity to revolutionise trout fishing; but the book was, after all, about fishing for salmon and he certainly paid his dues where this branch of the sport was concerned. Hewitt was an expert on dry fly fishing and nymphing for salmon and he did much to expand our knowledge on the subject.