Pocket Guide to Pennsylvania Hatches by Meck and Weamer

[rrt]

I know this thread has been here previously, but I couldn't find it. Anyhow, I had not figured to buy the book, since I have so many others dealing with hatches. However, when I found it for less than 1/3 the cover price, I broke down and bought one. Now, I have seldom had much good to say about Charles Meck, but I think it is a nice little book, filled with solid information, especially for those who are just starting their journey thru fly-fishing. As its title denotes, it is a pocket guide and does not include all the photos, esp of different fly stages, that larger books include, but it certainly could be useful along the stream. It is organized seasonally and by different kinds of flies: mayflies, caddisses, stoneflies, and others. Much of it reviewed and re-explained things I've often encountered in my previous readings, and the book uses modern nomenclature and tells you scientific terminology that was previously used to denote the flies' genus and species. I thought the authors' inclusion of what flowers were blooming when certain flies were hatching was interesting and could be helpful. I imagine they got this idea from "The Phenological Fly," or whatever that older book's title was. Anyhow, this is a solid handbook that I think would be especially helpful to guys and girls who are new to fly-fishing.

 

[gfen]

I consider my purchase of this book to be what really helped me understand WHAT I was doing, as opposed to just horse whipping the water into a froth.

 

[TUNA]

I always have a copy in my car, and one in the bathroom too. Up until a few years ago I didn't really care much about the bugs, because I fished mostly nymphs and streamers and didn't care to learn about the dry fly side of things. I got the handbook and Meck's, "Meeting and Fishing the Hatches," and it opened up a whole new world of fly fishing for me. Now I know when to fish a certain nymph over another nymph/larva. I'm kidding, the small book helped me out a lot and I would recommend it to anyone looking to get into the specifics of hatches without an overload of info.

 

[gfen]

TUNA wrote:
I always have a copy in my car, and one in the bathroom too.

I usually worry abotu what's flying INTO the bowl, not out of it.

 

[jdaddy]

gfen wrote:

TUNA wrote:
I always have a copy in my car, and one in the bathroom too.

I usually worry abotu what's flying INTO the bowl, not out of it.

I have had more than one book meet it's demise by flying into the bowl.

 

[TUNA]

Flushed a flashlight the other day, thankfully it got stuck and I could remove it.

 

[WildTigerTrout]

Very good book. I reference my copy quite a bit. I do not know Charlie Meck but I do know Paul. Any of you fellas get up to TCO flyshop in State College I'm sure Paul would autograph a copy for you.

 

[gfen]

TUNA wrote:
Flushed a flashlight the other day, thankfully it got stuck and I could remove it.

Jebus, you should slow down when you eat.

 

[jdaddy]

Paul is a great guy. His Delaware book is amazing, but a book that could only be written by someone who had years of experience there, but was running back to central PA. People on D were NOT happy about that book.

 

[TUNA]

I also have the Delaware book and the one Paul did with someone else on tying dry flies. They're both good books. I've seen Paul trashed on other forums for the Delaware book, but IMO its no different than any of Meck's books, other than it covering only one river. I understand he included GPS coordinates and stuff like that, but that wasn't his decision, the publisher included all of that info, against Paul's wishes. At least. thats what I've been told.

 

[rrt]

If I were a Delaware ff, I would have abhored that book. There is certainly the problem of "too many friends" for places. I also think it was really underhanded for TCO to open a shop so close to Flyfishers in State College. I just thought the little pocket guide was a decent book.

 

[TUNA]

I always wondered why TCO and FFP were so close. I understand that customers going to FFP may have to pass TCO on the way, thus increasing TCO's traffic, but why not somewhere else? I guess it hasn't hurt FFP too much, because every time I'm at FFP there are usually a few other people in there as well. I still appreciate the book though.

 

[jdaddy]

TUNA wrote:
I also have the Delaware book and the one Paul did with someone else on tying dry flies. They're both good books. I've seen Paul trashed on other forums for the Delaware book, but IMO its no different than any of Meck's books, other than it covering only one river. I understand he included GPS coordinates and stuff like that, but that wasn't his decision, the publisher included all of that info, against Paul's wishes. At least. thats what I've been told.

Mecks other books are much more subjective and certainly lack the depth of the UD book by Weamer. Meck will fish a freestoner in August and declare it too hot and move to the next stream. Frankly you have to do that in a book with a 100 stream review. Weamer lived on the UD and put together a master piece. There are tons of detail in that book, beyond GPS coordinates, that just aren't present in other books. Discussions of flow, hatches, floating, etc are just awesome.

 

[gutcutter]

Tuna
Having anything written by Mecks in the bathroom is a good idea. Most of it is BS and the rest is as useful as toilet paper. Wondering why you need it in the car, too. Do you often travel long distances where there are no bathrooms? If so, I could see why you would find this text useful.
BTW - not a shot at Weamer, just Charlie the Mecks

 

[TUNA]

Gutcutter- Some of the stream report are bogus, I'll give you that. I mainly use it for finding streams that I have never been to. After flipping through several of his books last night, I noticed a lot of the info is repeated from book to book. I'll investigate more. I also noticed that a lot of the hatch info provided is starting to become outdated, in Meck's books not the Pocket Guide.