Book review: The ROM Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes of Ontario

[zippyFX]

Hi All,

I got an indigo gift card this Christmas and I used it to buy this book online. I received it a couple of days ago and very pleased with it. The book is very organised make it it's way from the general to the very specific. It has plenty of colour pictures, write ups on each fish species and details on avg size, Ontario records and world records. Here is a link to the book with a sample section:

http://www.rom.on.ca/sites/default/files...fishes.pdf

I like the breakdown of of fish body types which should make identification very straight forward. Also the section on suckers has a lot of detail on the mouth types to help in identification. I think this will be very helpful when catching rough fish.

A couple of minor nits: the maps indicating known locations can be small and and some of the coloring can be difficult to make out there are some helpful arrows but given the binding I am sometimes left struggling to see the details on the map. Likely the only cryptic element of the book is that fish status which is given as a series of codes which I have to forever flip to the front of the book look up. I am not sure expanding them out would have changed the structure much. I was hoping on a better discussion in the Musky section; The book goes on about the contested record which I am not sure adds much value.

All in all it seems to be a very solid reference book and will likely be very useful. It's also entertaining, me and the kids flipped through the pages looking at all the wonderful pictures talking about what we have caught and what we will catch.

Has anyone else read it? Opinions?

[Giuga10]

Nice review, I also have an Indigo card so I think I might pick this up for myself. This is a great resource, especially since I Roughfish .

Thanks,
Giuga10

[OldTimer]

I havent read it................., but I'll be sure to take a peek thru one, on my next visit to Chapters.

Atta boy- for getting the kids involved in "real" books......... rather than staring at lcd and plasma screens while exercising their thumbs.

Cheers,

OldTimer

[zippyFX]

Check the location online before you drop by, not all locations have them in stock.

[MuskieBait]

Looks interesting just to have in the bookshelf.

[MichaelAngelo]

I'm interested in getting a field guide to fish as it would help me identify catches on the spot. In the past, I've found that I don't photograph the particular body part of the fish that is necessary to make an identification. Now I just snap a whole bunch of pictures all over the fish LOL.

[MuskieBait]

The Peterson's Guide is a favourite of the Roughfish crowd. I may be getting that one

[zippyFX]

(01-12-2013 03:07 PM)MichaelAngelo Wrote:  I'm interested in getting a field guide to fish as it would help me identify catches on the spot. In the past, I've found that I don't photograph the particular body part of the fish that is necessary to make an identification. Now I just snap a whole bunch of pictures all over the fish LOL.

Let me guess, suckers and redhorses? )

[MichaelAngelo]

(01-12-2013 06:03 PM)zippyFX Wrote:  

(01-12-2013 03:07 PM)MichaelAngelo Wrote:  I'm interested in getting a field guide to fish as it would help me identify catches on the spot. In the past, I've found that I don't photograph the particular body part of the fish that is necessary to make an identification. Now I just snap a whole bunch of pictures all over the fish LOL.

Let me guess, suckers and redhorses? )

I've mostly had trouble with shiners =/ I still have a handful I'm not sure about. I'll be posting them on NANFA soon and let them take a stab at it...

[Dennis L. Mitchell]

I purchased this book after reading this thread and I love it. The only thing I don't like is that it adds unwanted weight to my tackle bag! I just used it the other day to identify a chub, a fish i'd not seen before locally.