Bergman Trout Color Fly Plates

TicTokCroc

Sunkist and Sudafed
Forum Supporter
I recieved Bergmans 'Trout' for Christmas. It was a pretty good deal on southamericanjungle, 11$ for a used hardcover second revised addition. Main reason I wanted it was for the color fly plates I have heard so much about, but...is it just me, or are some of them blurry/pixelated. Some plates are worse then others. Was this possibly a cheap copy, bad printing, etc or are they all like this? Should I shop for another copy?0201221053.jpg
 

Dave Westburg

Fish the classics
Forum Supporter
The Bergman Trout fly plates are a disappointment but I enjoy reading his discussion of the different wet fly patterns and how to use them. The streamer and dry discussion is good. Nymphs not so good. The nymph patterns are laughable.
 

afried

Smolt
The Bergman Trout fly plates are a disappointment but I enjoy reading his discussion of the different wet fly patterns and how to use them. The streamer and dry discussion is good. Nymphs not so good. The nymph patterns are laughable.
The color plates in my copy are fine. There have been many printings of the book. The attached shows mine.22808325-AE5F-41EF-8863-08217689D9B6.jpeg
 

Tim Cottage

Steelhead
Forum Supporter
The color plates in my 1945 edition of Trout are pretty consistent. I wouldn't call them blurry and definitely not Pixelated since pixels didn't exist at that time. I can't help but wonder if we are so used to contemporary images that anything less is considered substandard.

If you want the best possible images of these flies find a copy of Forgotten Flies (2000) published by Complete Sportsman. In it you will find Don Bastian's impeccable reproduction of all 499 patterns from the recipes of Trout (1938) and other books by Ray Bergman.
 

TicTokCroc

Sunkist and Sudafed
Forum Supporter
The Bergman Trout fly plates are a disappointment but I enjoy reading his discussion of the different wet fly patterns and how to use them. The streamer and dry discussion is good. Nymphs not so good. The nymph patterns are laughable.
Yea the Nymphs are... Interesting. Definatly will be reading the book, was just curious about the plates. Actually the main reason I got it was to start tying in that style for high lakes, let's say I've seen a lot of your posts.
 

Tom Butler

Grandpa, Small Stream Fanatic
Forum Supporter
I have a softback reprint and the plates are not great, looks like a painting that's maybe fuzzy at the detail edges.
A quick look and 3 wets I favored for high lakes were the Black Gnat, Coachman and Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear.
Throw in a real spikey hares ear nymph and an Adams dry and maybe a Renegade and your set.
 

afried

Smolt
Well theres a clue, 'revised and enlarged' I wonder if the enlarging process of a photo in 1965 created the blurred distorted effect. Mines second edition also.
I take the “enlarged” to refer to the fact that the new edition added four color plates over the originals as well as new text content, rather than a resizing. Perhaps what you’re describing may be a defect in some printings or particular copies. Anyway, all I can say is that the plates in mine are sharp and well defined, at least to these old eyes.
 
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