Wigrams Fly Box
Mick Hall & Jim Findlay

Wigrams Fly Box tells of Dick Wigram’s place in the story of Tasmanian fly fishing and lists 147 of the patterns he adopted, adapted, or developed.
Today, anglers remember R.H. Dick Wigram as one of the most significant figures in Australian fly fishing. The Wigram era was a time of unspoiled waters, healthy trout populations, and abundant aquatic insects. It was the best of times for an angler such as Wigram. He was a genius in his field, observing, seeing, and translating his perception into patterns and methods. He was an outstanding fly tyer, one of the very best fly fishers of his generation, and a writer whose books are still celebrated for their technical, literary, and historical merit.
But little is recorded about the very core of his work tying traditional patterns, reworking patterns to suit local conditions, and designing new flies to imitate the insects he observed on and in Tasmanian waters. When he began his professional career in 1932, Wigram offered anglers a catalogue of 250 flies. He must have tied thousands of patterns in his time, including an unknowable number of his own designs. Regrettably, few records remain of his work.
The early chapters describe the evolution of Wigram s iconic Brown Nymph, his work in adapting and developing mayfly and other aquatic insect patterns to suit local waters, and his role in creating representations of Tasmanian beetles. They tell of flies Wigram created for Great Lake and Lake Leake and how fly tyers and anglers such as Woolley, Powlett, Cholmondeley-Pennell, and others helped shape Wigram s thinking.
The later chapters feature 147 patterns from the pages of Wigram’s books, his Weekly Courier columns, diaries, notes taken from his fly tying courses, and other sources. Wigram tied some of the flies; Mick Hall, an internationally renowned fly tyer, tied most of the patterns for the book. Wigrams Fly Box is an essential reference for all anglers.