Above Photo: Vincent Marinaro has kept me inspired for  over 35 years, and to this day, I still employ many of his techniques and  wisdom to engineer more purely functional patterns. When I was in my twenties, a very, very long time ago, I read Vincent Marinaro's book A Modern Dry-Fly Code. Originally published in 1950, the book lacked the essence of Vincent until Datus Proper released a forward-copyright edition in 1997. Honestly, the second edition led the reader into Marinaro's mind in an honest and whimsical manner, revealing his true eclectic and creative side. To this day, I reflect upon Vince's two books every time I sit down at my fly-tying bench or step into a cold trout stream. Vincent detested “plastic rods.” Datus even mentions that he avoided fly shops that carried fiberglass or graphite rods. Mr. Marinaro was a lawyer who was used to stating the case and living by it. So I suppose it makes sense that he would write a book called A Modern Dry-Fly Code. After al...