Review - Dave Hughes' new book, "Handbook of Hatches&qu
I've been mulling over the thought of getting a book on bugs for some time now, but I haven't been interested in getting into a bunch of dry stuff on taxonomy and Latin, which I'll never learn to pronounce let alone remember and which is constantly changing anyway as scientists constantly reclassify bugs. However, I hadn't found a book that fit my bill until I was rummaging around in Barnes and Noble last week and picked up and bought Dave Hughes' new book, "Handbook of Hatches," which just came out (copyright 2005).
The book is a 5 1/2" x 8 5/16" softcover and 276 pages long. Nice glossy pages with beautiful, detailed color pictures on just about every page. More importantly, although he tells you just about everything you need to know about mayflies, caddisflies, stoneflies, midges, craneflies, mosquitos, dragonflies, damselflies, waterboatmen, backswimmers, alderflies and hellgrammites, he does it without trying to give you a Ph.D. in entomology. As he says in the introduction, "It is about letting somebody else worry whether an insect is a Paraleptophlebia or an Ephemerella."
Along with very detailed discussions of the naturals, he spends as much time on how to tie and use specific fly patterns, including the materials you might prefer to construct them with, along with variations (which I have found endlessly fascinating as a fly tyer). He also naturally spends much time on how and where to present all the artificial nymphs, soft-hackled wets, dries, etc., he discusses. In fact, as you page through the book, you will constantly encounter the headings "natural," "imitation," and "presentation." 8) And as you quickly flip pages, you see as many pictures of imitative fly patterns as you do naturals. 8)
Just because he doesn't focus on Latin, don't get the impression this is a vague, generalistic, newby-stuff type book -- this books is cram-packed full of detailed information. For example, he discusses each of the four types of mayfly nymphs (swimmers, crawlers, clingers, and burrowers) in turn, discussing their nature, what kind of water they're found in, how they behave, what to match them with, along with fly tying details and tips, and how to present them. This is in addition to discussions of mayfly nymphs and their characteristics in general, and aside from discussing emergers, duns, and spinners. The subtitle to this book is, "Introductory Guide to the Foods Trout Eat & the Most Effective Flies to Match Them," and although I am no expert myself, I would think it would take an expert to know all the details presented in this book. Certainly far more detail than I'll ever remember.
I don't think I could have made a better choice for me. If you have been thinking about getting a bug book, like I have, without the intention of taking up a foreign language, I urge you to take a look at this book. I believe you will REALLY like what you see. :D
