Reddit reviews Peterson Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes, Second Edition (Peterson Field Guides)

There's not a lot of good info out the about it.

I'd just start with the Owner New-Half Moon Tenago hooks. Get them from TenkaraBum and get them pre-snelled unless you like to tie really really small knots. You can buy a tool to help you snell them, but I prefer them pre-snelled.

I like to use an old lightweight spinning combo that I had lying around, but sometimes the reach of a expandable cane pole can come in handy.

To actually catch the fish, take a tiny piece of redworm and put it on the hook. Hemostats can be a little bit handy for this. Different fish like different presentations. I almost always put the smallest piece of split shot I can find about 1.5" above the hook, but you'll have more aggressive fish hitting the shot instead of the bait.

For topminnows, mosquitofish, anything that feeds right on the surface - Lightly dab the bait on the surface of the water. When they hit it, pop them out. Don't ever just lift the fish out, you'll need a firm pop to set the hook.

For Cypranids - a lot of the cypranids like a super aggressive approach. Slap the bait on the water and let it sink. I've caught quite a few of them on the edge of a current seam between slow and fast water buy dropping the bait in at the very edge.

For darters, madtoms - Find largish rocks in clear water and very slowly and carefully move them out of the way. The fish will either lay there or dart away. If they run, watch where they go. They will almost always turn around and stay in that spot. Use the splitshot to control the bait and try to get it right in front of their nose. Bump them in the nose if they aren't responsive.

Some fish are super annoying. Stonerollers are hard to catch. Some won't bite no matter what you try, like spring cavefish often do. Sunfish are the opposite no matter the size. They will flock to your bait, even the big ones. A big sunfish on 1/2lb test is interesting. The nice thing about microfishing is that you can do it whenever everything else is locked down. Minnows will always bite, and can be a challenge to hook.

For ID - Peterson's Field Guide is the bible. Hit up /r/microfishing, www.nanfa.org, and www.roughfish.com

Petersons field guide

The Audubon guides are good, but I like the Peterson field guides for all my wildlife needs. The Freshwater fishes of N. America just got the new 2nd edition published, and I think they added like 150 species to it. They have great pictures, its organized very well, and has lots of great info. That's what I use. Just get the paperback version and beat the hell out of it!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0547242069/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0395910919&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=15NF3RRHGF4FY585GQ5P