Dave Hughes

Dave Hughes is author of more than 20 books about fly fishing. They include the classic Western Hatches with Rick Hafele, American Fly Tying Manual, Handbook of Hatches, Reading Trout Water, the massive reference Trout Flies, Nymphs for Streams and Stillwaters, Wet Flies, and Pocketguide to Western Hatches. In 2014 Stackpole Books published the 2-book set, Tactics for Trout and Seasons for Trout, authored by Dave with Rick Hafele and Skip Morris.

Dave was founding president of Oregon Trout in 1983, and was awarded life membership in the Federation of Flyfishers in 1985. He was awarded the Pete Hidy honorary life membership in the Flyfishers Club of Oregon in 1992 for his literary accomplishments. Dave received the prestigious Letcher Lambuth Angler Craftsman Award in 2008 from the Washington Fly Fishing Club. He is a life member of his home club, the Rainland Flycasters in Astoria, Oregon.

Born in Astoria, Oregon on the 4th of July, 1945, Dave worked his way through college at jobs specializing in the Three Ds--Dirty, Difficult, and Dangerous: mink ranches, tuna canneries, and shrimp boats. He graduated from the University of Oregon in 1967, from Army Infantry Officer Candidate School in 1968. Dave served one-and-a-half years in Viet Nam, 6 months as a communications site commander in the Mekong Delta, and one year as liaison officer to the Commanding General of communications in the Southeast Asia theater.

Dave is an accomplished amateur aquatic entomologist. His hobbies include collecting, identifying, and photographing the aquatic insects that are fed upon by trout, as well as tying and fishing the flies that match those insects and fool those trout. His articles on fly fishing have appeared in Field & Stream, Gray's Sporting Journal, Outdoor Life, Sports Afield, Fly Fisherman magazine, American Angler, and Fly Tyer. Dave served as editor of Flyfishing & Tying Journal for eight years, and is currently Practical and Useful columnist for Fly Rod & Reel and entomology columnist for Flyfishing & Tying Journal.

Dave lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife, Japanese fly fishing writer Masako Tani.