Al and Gretchen Beatty's, "Humpy Encyclopedia"

"The Humpy Encyclopedia." That name probably evokes all sorts of interesting mental images from the average reader. Just the suggestive wording, "Humpy Encyclopedia"...

...well, you get the idea. But to a fly fisherman, it is immediately significant... a compendium based on one of the best surface fly patterns ever created. In fact, the full name is, "The Humpy Encyclopedia - More Than a Dozen Ways to Tie a Humpy." And it is from Al and Gretchen Beatty.

Married Teamwork For those who may not be into fly fishing, there have been a number of husband and wife teams that have successfully managed to share the fly fishing world together:

Walt and Winnie Dette

Harry and Elsie Darbe

Lee and Joan Salvato-Wulff

Dave and Emily Whitlock

Skip and Carol Ann Morris

... to name a few off the top of my head.

And to that list we must add Al and Gretchen Beatty.

Make It A Business I'm tempted to refer to the Beatty's as a, "Couple Emeritus," in the fly fishing world. To put it bluntly, they've been around awhile.... However, that title is an honorific normally reserved for those who retire from professional life.
And the Beatty's are anything but retired!

Along these lines, it's important to acknowledge that such husband-wife teams usually become a profit making business at some point. Skip and Carol Ann, The Whitlocks, all the others... they develop into a business over time.

Their shared immersion leads to that by default, I suppose.

In addition, today, these spouse teams embrace the digital sphere, and the Beatty's have done so in a huge way. They offer videos, live tying sessions, a Facebook presence, e-books for download, a prodigious webpage, ... and they are offering what I consider a must have in the library of the post-modern fly fisherman: "The Humpy Encyclopedia - More Than A Dozen Ways To Tie The Humpy." No, they aren't retired by any stretch.

The Book This book is exhaustive, as the name implies. "Encyclopedia" - that says it all.

And here's the kicker...its available for FREE, as an e-download.

Yes, free. Even if you have never tied your own flies, you can appreciate that.

It is in .pdf format, so it comes directly to you once you link to it. You don't have to grit your teeth and give up your email, or sign up for anything. Click on the link and there it is.

That's nice. There are 80 pages in it, too, all full of tying steps, illustrations, variations on the venerable Humpy pattern... well, you couldn't do all that in less than 80 pages. The Humpy has been a favorite for a long time, and the warm-water fish in my area go for it in a big way.

So, naturally a book about it is welcome.

And the Beatty's have made it available as a free download.

Call it a "taste of excellence," I guess.

If you want a copy, get it here: The Humpy Encyclopedia

Further Comments This is actually the second time I've had this e-book in my collection, and I'm glad it came up again.

The first one was lost when my cellphone crashed, because, like a doofus, I never backed it up.

So I fixed that problem straight away.

Our pal, Martin Joergensen, from Globalflysisher.com (Martin Globalflyfisher Joergensen), he had this post-script to add when he reviewed, "The Humpy Encyclopedia":

"If you enjoy the book after downloading and reading it, consider supporting this great initiative and contributing a few dollars to the Beatty's. You can do so through Paypal.

I wrote in the notes to my own donation: 'I have always appreciated people who share knowledge for free. That's something worth paying for!'"

I couldn't agree more and took Martins advice. I ponied up a donation from the Palmetto Fly n Fish coffers* for my newest copy of 'The Humpy Encyclopedia.' * okay.. there aren't any "coffers" here at PFnF. I opened my wallet - kinda the same thing, right? Anyway, like Martin, I REALLY appreciate business-minded people who offer free and useful stuff. I get it; they are in business to turn a profit. But the constant din of "sell, Sell, SELL!" found on so many of todays internet pages and videos is tiresome - so its refreshing to find a hidden gem like this,... an "easter egg," if you like. While I'm at it, I'd like to make an un-apologetic plug for the previously mentioned Skip Morris. Skip has a lot of free info available in the form of articles. Skip writes, while Carol Ann is the brains of the outfit. I have several of Skips books, in fact, and I recommend them highly.

Here is a taste... one that has influenced my own angling since I first stumbled upon it: Bass-BlueGill Laphttp://www.skip-morris-fly-tying.com/the-bass-bluegill-lap.html
Conclusion If you get The Humpy Encyclopedia, and find you DO want to send a little something to Al and Gretchen, you can do so via Paypal, using the email address: albeatty2@gmail.com

Read Martin's review, here: https://globalflyfisher.com/review/the-humpy-encyclopedia

Al and Gretchen's web page is also a must visit and you should add them to your favorites as soon as you land there. Trust me on this one.

http://www.btsflyfishing.com/ I hope you enjoyed this article and learned something. If you wish, please share it with your friends. Thanks for reading and Tight Lines, friends!

David

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