The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

I'm looking for a good book on insect identification complete with color photos of the various stages. Any recommendations?

Thanks, Jeff

If you are looking to identify bugs down to the species or sub species level you'll need these two books:

Aquatic Entomology: The Fishermen's Guide and Ecologists' Illustrated Guide to Insects and Their Relatives by Pat McCafferty Excellent illustrations and easy to use. If I had one bug book this would be the one. Usually gets you to the species level.

. . . From there use An Introduction to the Aquatic Insects of North America by Merritt and Cummins to nail the bug down to the gnat's ass. Pretty complex keys that can substitute for Ambien.

For a VERY basic and handy reference to bugs, the Hatch Guide for Western Streams by Jim Schollmeyer is excellent.

Lots of general entomology books out there that will lead you astray more quickly than they will id your bug.

Good luck,
Ralph

I have to second Ralph's recommendation of Schollmeyer's book, which has been very useful to me over the years.

Ralph could've easily plugged his own book Fish Food, (ISBN# 0-8117-3219-3) which has fewer pictures than Schollmeyer's, but has more useful information on flies to use, plus tips and tactics on how to catch more fish, which is why I started studying aquatic insects in the first place.

Both are useful tools in helping solve the mystery of the hatch, feeding fish, and how to do more catching and less fishing! I'll have to check out those other books he recommended as well.

Cheers!

--FlyGuy (Dave)