Thirty Dust Jackets

In the course of sorting through my father’s materials that inform the Trey Combs Archive, I recently came across something unexpected—about thirty dust jackets from the original 1991 printing of Steelhead Fly Fishing.

The book has long held a special place in the literature of the sport. For many steelhead anglers it became a kind of reference text, bringing together the rivers, flies, anglers, and traditions that shaped modern steelhead fly fishing. My father always considered Steelhead Fly Fishing one of the most important books he wrote about the sport.

Over the years I have heard from readers who told me they read the book by flashlight while sleeping along the banks of a steelhead river, returning to its pages between casts the next morning.

That reputation is hinted at in one of the comments printed on the original dust jacket itself:

“Masterfully conceived and meticulously crafted, Steelhead Fly Fishing soars in pedigree with Eric Taverner’s Salmon Fishing and Lee Wulff’s The Atlantic Salmon. At once it is THE steelhead book. A hundred years from now, smitten steelhead anglers will be turning to Trey Combs.”

—Tom Pero, Trout Magazine

These jackets were preserved from the original printing of the book and have remained in excellent condition. Recently they were signed and dated Trey Combs 9/9/25, creating a small group of archival pieces connected directly to the book.

Rather than keeping them stored away, it seems more fitting that they find their way to anglers who appreciate the history of the sport. Over the next year, I will be giving away one signed dust jacket each month to subscribers of the Trey Combs Fly Fishing monthly email.

Each jacket features the original cover image of a Skagit winter-run steelhead resting in shallow water, along with the familiar title that many anglers recognize immediately. While simple, they represent a small piece of steelhead fly-fishing history.

A small number of these jackets will also be made available to collectors through the archive.
If you would like to receive one, you can enter by subscribing below.

Mark Combs
Trey Combs Fly Fishing Publications

Original dust jacket from the 1991 first printing of Steelhead Fly Fishing by Trey Combs — identical to the jackets being given away.