Complete guide to aquatic entomology for fly fishers, covering all the
important insects and their imitations for the entire United States.
Hatch charts, fly pattern recommendations, and important fishing
strategies from Paul Weamer. This is the ideal reference for those just
starting out or for those that want to have a more comprehensive view of
the important insects. Understanding aquatic insect hatches is like
being able to cast an entire fly line. Do you need to cast that far to
catch fish? Of course not. But will being able to cast a long distance
inhibit your ability to catch fish? Never. Knowing where, and how,
insects live and emerge gives anglers yet another piece of the puzzle.
I've never heard a fly fisherman exclaim, "I probably would have caught
those rising fish if I just didn't know so much about trout stream
insects." You still need to cast. You still need to present flies in
such a manner that fish will accept them. But though no one has ever
failed to catch a trout because they knew too much about aquatic
insects, plenty of anglers have not caught as big a fish, or as many
fish as they could have caught, because they failed to understand the
importance of matching a hatch. This is particularly true when fishing
for large, wild, selective trout--the ones we all really want to catch.
In this book, I try to relieve some of the reticence about trout stream
insects that makes many anglers feel inadequate and uneasy. Many
excellent books provide very detailed information about specific
hatches. But that's not this book's goal. This book is written for new
anglers who want a basic understanding of aquatic insects or more
seasoned fly fishers who want to take their skills to the next level;
those who want to know not only if their flies will work but why they'll
work as well. I remember when I was first learning to fly fish, and I
read about complicated Latin names or confusing stages of aquatic insect
development. I was lost. It was as if the whole fly fishing world was
born knowing about these things, and I was left out. This book's aim is
to provide basic aquatic insect knowledge that will not only help you to
understand more about trout stream insects, but it will also help you
catch more trout on your next fishing trip. It will help you to
understand why you should tie one fly to your leader rather than another
to imitate the hatches you encounter.
