I do 90% of my lake fishing with wet flies. But I always keep a few flying ant dries in my lake box along some callibaetis and some caddis. An ant fall brings every fish to the top of the lake and they are pretty selective. I've had some amazing May days fishing black flying ants during ant falls on Prices Lake and Cascade Lake in WA and on Glimpse Lake in BC. I've seen the biggest ant falls in May but sometimes they swarm in the fall as well.
Flying ants are easy to imitate. I use Steve Raymond's pattern. Two balls of black polypro dubbing on a size 10-12 hook and a sparse deer hair wing. Put floatant on the wing and the fly floats flush in the surface just like the real thing. I also tuck a few flying termites into my box. They have a dubbed amber polypro body. The patterns below have deer hair wings with the exception of the top fly which has a cul de canard wing.
Anyone else fish flying ants?
Flying ants are easy to imitate. I use Steve Raymond's pattern. Two balls of black polypro dubbing on a size 10-12 hook and a sparse deer hair wing. Put floatant on the wing and the fly floats flush in the surface just like the real thing. I also tuck a few flying termites into my box. They have a dubbed amber polypro body. The patterns below have deer hair wings with the exception of the top fly which has a cul de canard wing.
Anyone else fish flying ants?
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