Why was this site developed?
Who uses it?
Who developed it?
How much information does it contain?
How many visitors does it get?
What if I have questions?
What is taxonomic structure?
What is the source for the WA stream-resident aquatic macro-invertebrates?
What is the source for the WA aquatic insect emergence chart?
What are the recommended websites?
What are the recommended books?
What are taxonomic updates?
What is the consolidated illustration index?
What is adult mayfly identification?
What is fly fishing entomology?
- Entomology is the study of insects. Aquatic insects spend their larval existence on or under water, where they are the major food source for fish. Understanding aquatic insects, and employing artificial flies to imitate them, are several of the many challenges of fly fishing.
- FlyfishingEntomology.com was developed to share my interest in aquatic insects (and other freshwater organisms) with other flyfishers.
- Those interested in fly fishing entomology will discover this site contains a digest of information not centrally available anywhere else on the internet.
- This site was developed by Roger Rohrbeck, a fly fisher from the state of Washington, current residing in the state of Texas. Following a lengthy career in information technology/management, retirement provided the opportunity to pursue a long-held interest in fly fishing entomology.
- This site contains more than (200) pages of highly structured information with more than (80) illustrations and more than (3,200) internal links to facilitate access. In addition, multiple databases provide query capability. The most effective way to appreciate the breadth and depth of this coverage is to view the Site Map by clicking here.
- Since it's creation in 2004, this site has hosted
nearly (1,000,000) visits from the following (130)
countries, which represent all six inhabited continents:
Afghanistan, Andorra, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia (and Herzegovina), Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Cocos Islands, Columbia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, French Polynesia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea (North), Korea (South), Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Libya, Lithuania, Macau, Macedonia, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Niue, Northern Mariana Islands, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russian Federation, Saint Lucia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia (and Montenegro), Seychelles, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidad (and Tobago), Tunisia, Turkey, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Yemen, Zimbabwe.
- Your questions or observations are highly encouraged, and will receive prompt, respectful, and (hopefully) enlightened response. Please email them to: FlyfishingEntomology@comcast.net.
- Taxonomic structure is the scheme of hierarchical classification used by zoological
classification experts (taxonomists) to describe living things. It customarily
starts with kingdom and works its way down to species.
On this site, the hierarchy has been portrayed with the highest displayed hierarchical level in the leftmost column, and with lower levels in columns to the right. As a practical matter, this has necessitated breaking the structure into numerous pages, which are linked from senior to junior page.
can be used to retreat back up the hierarchy. Access the taxonomic
structure by clicking here.
- The State of Washington Department of Ecology has sampled stream-resident
benthic macro-invertebrates for over ten years as a component of their response to the Federal Clean Water Act.
Detailed information concerning these samples is contained in an (annually updated) MS Access database, which is made
available to the public via download.
The WA stream-resident aquatic macro-invertebrates page on this site is a summarization of detail contained in that database, supplemented with the common name provided for each taxon at family level or above, and listed in sequence of common name. Access the macro-invertebrate list by clicking here.
- The WA Aquatic Insect Emergence Chart was is based on information contained in the WA Dept. of Ecology's ECY database, Xerces Society's Stream Bugs As Biomonitors CD, numerous web-based WA hatch charts, Western Hatches by Hafele & Hughes, and Hatch Guide for Western Streams by Jim Schollmeyer. Access the emergence chart by clicking here.
- It is composed of multiple folders, each of which contain links to website pages believed to contain useful information for anyone interested in learning more about fly fishing entomology. Access links by clicking here.
- They constitute my personal library of fly fishing entomology books. The book cover image is simply intended to assist in recognition. Following the book cover image, there appears a brief description of the book. In appropriate instances, this is followed by taxonomic updates for this book. Access recommended books by clicking here.
- Many fly fishing entomology reference books were published at least 20 years
ago, and some much longer. Although these books remain rich sources of information,
many taxonomic re-classifications have taken place in the intervening years.
Initially, I printed a chart of taxonomic updates for each book, and taped it to the
inside of the back cover. My taxonomic update pages for these books are intended to
provide my website visitors with that same information.
Here are links to the taxonomic updates:
Aquatic Insects of California edited by Robert L. Usinger
Caddisflies by LaFontaine by Gary LaFontaine
Hatches II by Al Caucci & Bob Nastasi
Mayflies of Michigan Trout Streams by Justin W. Leonard and Fannie A. Leonard
Mayflies the Angler and the Trout by Fred L. Arbona, Jr.
Mayflies, An Anglers Study of Trout Water Ephemeroptera by Malcolm Knopp and Robert Cormier
Nymphs by Ernest Schwiebert
Selective Trout by Doug Swisher and Carl Richards
Stoneflies by Richards/Swisher/Arbona
The Biology Of Mayflies by Needham/Traver/Hsu
The Caddisfly Handbook by Dick Pobst and Carl Richards
The Hatches Made Simple by Charles A. Meck
The Mayflies Of Florida by Lewis Berner and Manual L. Pescador
The Mayflies, or Ephemeroptera, of Illinois by B. D. Burks
- Illustrations of various aquatic insects (and other macro-invertebrates) are
contained within the books in my library. Most of these books don't contain an index
of their illustrations.
The consolidated illustration index is simply an attempt to bring order and efficiency to the process of searching for insect illustrations. If you don't have ready access to the actual reference book, this index may be of limited value. However, at least you'll know which book contains the desired illustrations when you visit a flyshop, bookstore, or library. Access the consolidated illustration index query by clicking here.
- Entomology texts traditionally rely on a long series of couplets (either this or
that) to identify organisms. Frequently, one is unable to successfully navigate these
couplets. This may be because one has only a photo of the insect, and the
feature in question cannot be seen in the photo; or because dissection and/or a microscope
are required, and one doesn't have that equipment or those skills.
So, to assist the average fly fisher in identifying adult mayflies, another approach was tried. It seemed there were sufficient readily observable adult mayfly attributes, that it might be possible to simply describe what one could observe, and (at least) narrow down the possibilities.
Although the page continues to evolve, I am pleased with the initial results. However the best judge of that is you, so you might want to give Adult Mayfly Identification a try by clicking here.
Given the success of using this approach for identification of adult mayflies, I have also applied this technique to identification of adult caddisflies and stoneflies. To access Adult Caddisfly Identification, click here. To access Adult Stonefly Identification, click here.
Once you have tried one of them, please send email to let me know how it worked (or didn't work) for you.
Thanks,
Roger Rohrbeck.