The Bug Book: A Fly Fisher's Guide to Trout Stream Insects

Review The Bug Book The Bug Book: A Fly Fisher’s Guide to Trout Stream Insects by Paul Weamer. Headwater Books and MidCurrent, 2015, 152 pages, $10 ebook. ASIN: B012PUKTVM. Hatches by Caucci and Nastasi, Selective Trout by Richards and Swisher, and Western Mayfly Hatches by Hafele and Hughes are just a few of the great books that have laid the foundation for generations of hatch-matchers, but they are all outdated due to taxonomic shifts, and changes to the environment and our rivers (some good, some bad). As a result, the fly-fishing world was in need of a modern, comprehensive aquatic food guide. Fly Fisherman contributing editor Paul Weamer answered the call with this: the most up-to-date match-thehatch guide fly fishers have available today and it’s all digital in a full-color, transportable, convenient format that costs just $10. More important, Weamer breaks down the barriers between amateur and entomologist in a conversational tone, and explains when and why identifying insects can be both fun and practical. This is no snobby “upstream, dryfly- only” book about just aquatic insects. Weamer starts with the limnology of rivers and stillwaters, helps you understand the characters of everything from spring creeks and freestone rivers to reservoirs and ponds, and from there extrapolates to how the food base thrives and supports diverse trout populations. From scuds and sow bugs to aquatic worms and crane flies, you’ll learn how to identify what you’re seeing on stream, and the best options for imitating it. Weamer—as we know from his many years as a guide on the Delaware River, his eloquent essays in Fly Fisherman (most recently “A Century of Fishing the Hendrickson Hatch” in the June-July issue), and his many previous publications is one of the brightest minds in fly fishing today—and a passionate spokesman. Let’s hope he’s got more books like this in store. -- Ross Purnell, publisher/editor of Fly Fisherman magazine ― Fly Fisherman Product Description 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 fish