Sorry - first word should be "Aquatic."

Dave Whitlock's book on Aquatic Insects is a good one..but a great read, and very good book on what you refer to I am reading again for the 2nd time, and it is Mike Lawson's book, Spring Creeks. It mainly focuses on insects found in Spring Creeks, and Tail Waters, but some on the freestone rivers as well. Great understanding of what you need to do to match, and catch fish on what fish are feeding on...patterns, strategies, the whole 9 yards. And lots of good stories that put it all into perspective.

Those of us who fly fish for trout continue to ask the same questions until they shovel dirt in our faces. I knew a guy who could imitate an artificial hatch and resulting rise with 30 perfect casts, and he still asks the same questions.

I've read (and reread) Handbook of Hatches: A Basic Guide to Recognizing Trout Foods and Selecting Flies to Match Them by Dave Hughes.

A critical thing here is do you want to just learn about the bugs, their stages, where you find them etc.?... OR, do you also want to include when, where, how the fish take them, and identify what they are taking, and the patterns to use for the various stages as well?

That is what the book I recommended does. You can learn the bugs all you want, the stages, the underwater shots of them, but to learn what flies to chose by what you are observing, and what is triggering the trouts response is the thing I want to know. I want it to relate to my fly fishing success. Some anglers are just into the bugs, and fish very little. Some anglers are into tying flies, and fish very little. And some anglers I have found are into the social, club thing, and fish very little. All my focus is how to be more successful on the water. It seemed to me we were making a number of posts without answering this topic.