This is a book on trout that no serious fly-fisherman can afford to miss. With its 18 full-color plates and twice as many black-and-white drawings illustrating over 200 varieties of nymphs; with 35 chapters covering everything from the Giant Stonefly Nymphs to the Microcaddis; with almost 300 complete descriptions of insects and a parallel number of imitative fly-patterns; with Schwiebert's rich background of angling lore and evocative descriptions of trout country in both Europe and the U.S.; with over 300 pages of solid and original research, this book is clearly destined to stand with the classics of fly-fishing literature. With Nymphs, the author has written the first comprehensive American study of the immature stages of aquatic fly-hatches that provide as much as 90% of the trout's normal diet. It argues that the skilled angler must anticipate nymph activity through the full seasonal cycle. Schwiebert's lucid exposition of a complex mixture of entomology, fly-tying techniques, tackle selection, and fly-presentation tactics in the field is invaluable to the modern American fly-fisherman. From the Adirondacks to the Great Smokies, from east of the Catskills to west of the Rockies, Schwiebert has collected, studied, and in the book analyzed and explained that most important facet of the trout diet - the subaquatic nymphs! Ernest George Schwiebert, Ph.D. (1931-2005) was an architect by profession and a renowned angler and angling author by avocation. He was best known for his extensive writings about fly-fishing. His books include Matching the Hatch (1955), Nymphs (1973), Salmon of the World (1970), and the two-volume Trout (1978). An often referenced and quoted writer, Schwiebert has over 12 references in Arnold Gingrich's book The Fishing in Print and 14 references in Paul Schullery's American Fly Fishing, A History. Gingrich considered Schwiebert's position impregnable as the leading angling author of our time.