Handbook of Hatches

Outstanding...the book i've been looking for. As a freshwater fly fisherman, I've been looking for a book that offers an applicable approach to matching the hatch. This book succeded. Hughes successfully establishes the primary aquatic insects of a trout's diet (stoneflies, mayflies, and caddis flies) then skillfully and simply explains each species specific life cycle. His basic premise is to focus on 5 aspects of an insect/hatch to successfully immitate and fish it: shape (determined by species and stage), color, size, behavior, and habitat. Maintaining this theme throughout the text allows you to store this information in a logical and simple form. Futhermore, it allows you to apply this knowledge rapidly and with confidence. It the fish doesn't care what the Latin name of its food is, why should we? This book is based on the KISS principle: Keep It Simple Stupid. Outstanding.

Trout eat things. Sometimes its nymphs, sometimes its Duns, sometimes its Terrestrails. This book discusses the insects that Trout eat and gives you clues on how to determine what they are eatting and how to match it when you hit the water. This fisherman introduction to bugs is scientific enough to get you started into further research if you would like and basic enough that you don't have to learn Latin names in order to understand what type of Caddis you are looking for. This book is also a good resource for learning how to tie flies that will match the hatches that you are experiencing. The only downfall in my opinion is that the pictures are not in color and therefore you don't get as exact of a photographic match of the insects as you would would color photography.