An Angler's Entomology

J. R. Harris is an angler and a scientific naturalist—a happy combination that has produced the first truly comprehensive guide to the entomology every angler needs. This book bridges the gap between the fishing enthusiast and the naturalist, ensuring that when anglers from across Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England discuss nymphs, duns and spinners, they can be quite certain precisely what they're talking about.

Anglers are perhaps the most devoted of all sporting groups, and the fact that fish feed primarily upon insects—and can be caught by devices which simulate them—has spawned both a scientific literature and an astonishing art of fly-tying. Yet despite this passion, none of the many books on angling have ever dealt satisfactorily with the angler's entomology in all its aspects. Here, for the first time, really adequate illustrations—both in colour by T. O. Ruttledge and in black-and-white—combine with an authoritative text to allow identification of all stages of all the important angler's flies.

Harris has also rationalised the nomenclature of flies without breaking with tradition, something previous writers could never quite achieve without the benefit of colour photographs or the latest developments in entomology. This book will awaken a new critical appreciation of what is quite the most fascinating part of angling, and will appeal to a wide circle of naturalists beyond anglers and entomologists alike.