An artist by trade and fly-fisherman by choice. "Even when I was eighteen" Mr. Leonard says, "I knew that I wanted to draw and paint fish, to write about them and the food they eat." Those words are from the end flap of J. Edson Leonard's monumental book entitled: "Flies (their origin, natural history, tying, hooks, patterns and selections of dry and wet flies, nymphs, streamers, salmon flies for fresh and saltwater in North America and the British Isles, including A DICTIONARY OF 2200 PATTERNS." published in 1950. He later published another book entitled : The Essential Fly tier".