Fly Fishing Entomology

There has always been a close relationship to aquatic scientists and fly fishermen.  Why?  Because many of the early scientists who studied aquatic insects were fly anglers and this holy or as some might call it unholy marriage still exists today.  There are number of different levels of fly fishing entomology fly fishermen can delve into.  Some just want a working knowledge and that's fine.  Others want to be able to identify the insects just like a working scientist and many are somewhere in between.  Fly fishing and fly fishing entomology are like a buffet you can take what you want to start out with and always go back for more.

My first hint of advice don't get overwhelmed.  Take it slowly and you'll enjoy it more and you'll actually catch more fish. Here's a simple list of what you should know first to start your journey in fly fishing entomology:

• Know the basic life cycles of the insects,
• Understand how different streams produce different patterns of emergence
• Understand how color and size vary tremedously and don't always bet your salary on what someone publishes in a book or website.
• Understand what your basic fly patterns imitate and how best to use them.
• Understand what environmental factors influence emergence patterns and how it will affect your fishing,
• Understand temperature cycles and what it means to fly anglers.
• Have an overall knowledge of the seasonal patterns of emergence on streams that you fish.

Well this is a good start.  Notice that I didn't even mention identification etc.  Where are you going to get all of this stuff? Well you could go out and buy a bunch of books which is fine and try and sort through all of them, or you could keep checking back at flyhatches.com because I'm going to put all of those articles on this website free of charge to get you started.

If you are interested in private lesson on this stuff or might be interested in a video entomology course I'm putting together just let me know with the form below. No matter what you'll always find lots free stuff here including our hatch charts which are coming soon.