OK, so, I bought some kit, I had a casting lesson, I am practising, I am tying my own flies......and now there is another huge, crucial and bewildering part of the sport, "matching the hatch".

On my casting lesson, a big insect flew past. The guide pointed it out. I thought i knew what it was, but was not 100% sure and lacked confidence to air my sugeestion.

The guide said what it was, confirming my suspicions it was some variety of flapping buggy thing.

Where do I start, If I wish to learn to identify what is hatching or flying about?

I intend to coarse fish and cannot imagine that a chub is anywhere near as discerning as a canny trout, but would still love to be able to smugly imagine I had fooled a fish by presenting a meal that closely resembled it's last.

__________________
Around the steel no tortur'd worm shall twine,
No blood of living insect stain my line;
Let me, less cruel, cast feather'd hook,
With pliant rod athwart the pebbled brook,
Silent along the mazy margin stray,
And with fur-wrought fly delude the prey

Believe me, chub are a worthy quarry, they may be greedy but are hugely wary and certainly (in my experience) just as difficult as catching any trout (on the fly at least).

I'm still learning so all I do is look at what's on or around the water and then have a rummage through my fly selection and see what I've got that resembles the live stuff.

Seems to work.

Don't get me wrong, i am not saying they will be easy, but having caught many on some very weird and wonderful baits I do not think they will be as flightly if the presented fly does not match what is around them. Delicate presentation and not spooking them is a diferrent matter.

__________________
Around the steel no tortur'd worm shall twine,
No blood of living insect stain my line;
Let me, less cruel, cast feather'd hook,
With pliant rod athwart the pebbled brook,
Silent along the mazy margin stray,
And with fur-wrought fly delude the prey

Check out www.troutnut.com

__________________
Where the wandering water gushes
From the hills above Glen-Car,
In pools among the rushes
That scarce could bathe a star,
We seek for slumbering trout
And whispering in their ears
Give them unquiet dreams;
Leaning softly out
From ferns that drop their tears
Over the young streams.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

Match the hatch covered it all for me.
Linky here:-

try john goddards book, its helped me learn a lot bout a bugs life. it goes through life cycles, times of year they emerge, and even how they are distrubeted accross the isles, which is very useful. im by no means skilled at it, but this book is a great reference point. next time your on the water take a picture of whatever is hatching, and then you can reference back to it. also try sampling nymphs and grubs etc either by picking stones up or using a kick net, the latter of which i am yet to try out.

Pat O'Reilly, Matching The Hatch is a must for bankside beginners and then lots of stone turning in the riffles will reveal the majority of the nymphs. Then invest in some kick sampling kit, when stone turning is not enough.

It isn't half as hard as it looks or sounds, otherwise Frank would be stuffed. (I am told that I have to add a smiley or something so that people know that I am joking - what's a smilie?).

I would suggest that the chub is about as canny as they get.

Rob

__________________
"The sun was so delightfully warm, and the stone, which had been sitting in it for a long time, was so warm, too, that Pooh had almost decided to go on being Pooh in the middle of the stream for the rest of the morning."

www.monnow.org

O'Reilly's book is a good start point if it's a general, simplified overview you require (probably wise at first). If you are interested in identifying insects to species level then Goddard's 'Waterside Guide' is a better bet, or better still, get your hands on a copy of the soon to be released Ephemeroptera Guide by the Field Studies Council. I've reviewed the test copy and believe me, it is going to be the single best species identification guide to British upwings ever published.

The above organisation also publish numerous excellent and inexpensive identification charts and guides to every order of insect you could imagine. Have a look at this link:

http://www.field-studies-council.org...ons/index.aspx

Entomology - at least to a practical, angling-orientated level - is not at all complicated.....and adds another dimension to your fishing day. It's also the first major step on the ladder to true geekdom!

Matt

__________________
The sun pushed dark spokes of melt and sparkle
Across the fields of hoar. And the river steamed -
Flint-olive.


http://northcountryangler.blogspot.com

Hi', Milo. Jonnie and Matt said it: Goddard as a starter. I started with his first little pocket book, 'What Fly Is That?' . It cost 3 shillings, so you can guess how long ago that was! Then, 'Trout Fly Recognition'. Since then, 'An Angler's Entomology', J R Harris and 'Life In Lakes And Rivers', T T Macan. Ten years ago,
after talking to Professor J M Elliott at the Freshwater Biological Assocation I bought 'Larvae Of The British Ephemeroptera' and 'A Key To The Adults Of The British Ephemeroptera'.
As a start, because you will probably be more interested in the adults, I would suggest Goddard and the key to the adults, by J M Elliott and U H Humpesch.
however, as Matt suggests, the new keys that will be available, soon I hope, will be more accurate and better illustrated than their predecessors.
Be careful, studying river and lake 'bug-hunting' is addictive, just as this forum is. I wish I could start again. Best of luck, it is a great and very rewarding hobby. TerryC

The London Natural History Musem has its bug collection on line with photo's and descriptions,it's very good for identifing bugs.
Cheers.