Triploidjunkie
Life of the Party
Yes and no. Once in awhile after like 50 or 60, I worry about catching ALL the fish...
Flying Ants - the flies you don't need until you do.
- Thread starter Dave Westburg
- Start date
I’ve had those days, and I was never bored!
It's happened to me twice lately Ira. That time on Anthony, it was pretty much every cast. The had just stocked "trophies" and they seemed to be milling in one area, so cast, let sink, set hook, release, repeat. The other time was fishing a friend's private pond. about 1/2 acre stocked with 300 fish all 16-18", some steelhead the others Kamloops. He fed them pellets when he was there. Clear water and when a fly hit the water you could watch every fish in the charge your fly, usually 2-4. I like the Owyhee during the pmd's, or the Henry's fork in the evening rise to whatever. If you have the right fly, make the right presentation, with the right timing you will probably get bit, but it isn't too easy....
I've had a few days when they were hitting so heavy I spent time switching to all sorts of very different patterns/presentations, and found they were going after most anything.
I’m not saying that I don’t switch things up to keep it interesting, but bored? Not in my wheel house!
Cowlitz Bottomfeeder
Life of the Party
I like foam for ant imitations because it floats forever. But it’s ought to imitate the way the naturals lie. The wings come off the real ones pretty quickly.
Photo credit Steve Norton
Photo credit Steve Norton
I had a good day on a small lake in Skagit Co. I was trolling and not having much luck. But I noticed fish rising and rowed over that area. I had on a March Brown and was casting to the rings. Cast out a catch a fish. release it and cast to another ring. Catch that one and repeat. That lasted about an hour. I don't get that a lot of times, but when I do it's tons of fun.
Cowlitz Bottomfeeder
Life of the Party
I was fishing Leech lake once and catching fish taking Callibaetis mayfly emerger patterns consistently, then it shut down even though mayflys were still emerging and fish wer still taking something at the surface. Maddening!!!
So I caught a fish on a leech and sampled the gullet and it was full of tiny winged black ant or maybe wasp things.
So, they would even select for those when larger mayflies that they normally like were available.
Jay
I did not have any black fly tiny enough to match but did get something when I switched to a small black parachute Adams,drowned...
So I caught a fish on a leech and sampled the gullet and it was full of tiny winged black ant or maybe wasp things.
So, they would even select for those when larger mayflies that they normally like were available.
Jay
I did not have any black fly tiny enough to match but did get something when I switched to a small black parachute Adams,drowned...
Zak
Legend
I saw an oldtimer trim a Royal Wulff down to a very respectable drowned flying ant. He cut off the tail, left just a few fibers of hackle for legs and only one white wingpost.
Not to this point but I will tie and fish these patterns. Last summer on a lake with a flying ant hatch and my foam ants wouldn’t get a sniff. Your patterns could be dressed with floatant to lie on their sides like the naturals.
Triploidjunkie
Life of the Party
I've heard they will get keyed in on ants over mayflies, or anything else, due to the acidic properties of ants. I'm not positive though, but I've seen them take ants or bees when available over all other food sources.
The Coho King
Smolt
The brookies and my eyes like your Sailor
