As the author of this book, my personal background and career experience offers little appropriate information regarding the subject of this book except that as a graduate Engineer I am a very inquisitive person. I started fishing fresh water bodies when I was six years old. At that time I fished for trout in a stocked pond and belonged to a fish and game club to gain access to this pond. I did not have the means or the opportunity in those early years to wonder how much I really knew, or more appropriately how much I did not know about fresh water fishing. Over the course of the following sixty four years I learned every day how little I really knew about the science of fishing and when I completed my formal education I began to blend the science associated with this sport with the knowledge and experience that I had been accumulating. At that point I started to become a much better fisherman and of course caught many more fish. This book is an attempt on my part to pass along to the new fishermen and those who simply want to improve their technique, some information and tips that I have gathered over many years. I have tried to present this material with a mixture of humor, personal experiences and stories and simple science to explain my positions on several important fishing subjects. Much of the material in this book is relatively basic and the book is not intended for the professional fisherman or woman. I have attempted to answer many of the questions that I never knew needed answering when I was young. There is information included that may to some be controversial but it represents my experiences and the resulting conclusions that followed. In almost every case where I departed from conventional wisdom, I sought out at least one other verifying source and that is why I have included a rather large list of references. It is my hope that I can motivate every reader of the book to become a better fisherman or woman and to use the material to increase t