Adult Dragonfly and Damselfly Pattern Recommendations

DryFly82

DryFly82

Life of the Party
Anyone have adult dragonfly and/or damselfly dryfly patterns that they have fished successfully that they are willing to share?

I have a few in my box that will get the fish to rise, but the hookup rate is horrible. There are always a few days a year when the fish are really agressive that remind me I need to improve what I have in my flybox.

Thanks!
 
DryFly82 said:
Anyone have adult dragonfly and/or damselfly dryfly patterns that they have fished successfully that they are willing to share?

I have a few in my box that will get the fish to rise, but the hookup rate is horrible. There are always a few days a year when the fish are really agressive that remind me I need to improve what I have in my flybox.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
I'd like to know, too.
 
I posted a photo of a pattern I like that has been effective for me in a past discussion on this topic. Here is a link:

chief

Post in thread 'Adult damsels? Need help!'

I have been using this pattern in my local lakes and it has been pretty effective. The extensive use of foam helps it keep floating even after several fish, unlike a lot of damsel patterns you find in fly shops. The wing is Finesse Fiber.

Damsels.jpg
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I’ve done very well at times with dry damsels on a certain lake, using a blue braided line for the body. I have caught bass on dragonfly patterns, sorta, like a Mr Wiggly
 
My friend John who recently passed away tied some of his adult dragon fly patterns without wings and had great success. His thought were the fish focus in on the body and particularly the color. He would always wait for a fish to rise before casting his adult dragon. Many times the fish will knock it out of the air and then rise again to finish things off. John was trying to imitate the latter part of that equation.
@Go Fish might post up some of his patterns if he sees this.
SF
 
kmudgn said:
This is the Damselfly video from Barry Ord Clarke that I have used for many years. The only adjustment I make to the pattern is that I use Swiss Straw for the wings and then use a hot bodkin to put holes in the wings. Allegedly, looks like a cripple, but I can't verify. It does catch fish.

Click to expand...

What's the purpose of the holes in the swiss straw wings?
 
The foam damsel dries work great on windy days when there is wave action, even whitecaps. The braided butt damsels can work better when the surface is flat. Worst of all are those days when the trout are taking adults 1-2” above the surface. Often, dries work well when there is some surface vegetation. I have found that in the lake I fish in summer, some years dries work and some years they don’t. This year they didn’t want the dries, rarely ate the nymphs, though damsels were emerging all over the pontoon and my hat, but were locked on Callabaetis and would eat a Parachute Adams. Go figure. You can see three real damsels on top of my hat. They crawled out of the water, up my body, and emerged on the hat.

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Adult Dragonflies......a mystery that took us ( our friend John rip and myself ) many years to decipher. There is a lake that we have fished for over 30 years. Every late summer/fall the fish key in on adult dragons flying out of the water to knock them down to return to eat them. Years of trying different patterns achieved minor frustrating results. Driving back home one late fall evening we talked about what the fish were seeing.....as we talked we realized that the fish could not clearly see the dragons wings while it was in flight do to many reasons and that body shape and color were more important than anything else. John tied some wingless dragons that could be skated across the surface to mimic an injured bug. I would describe this pattern as large and ugly but very effective. As SF mentioned casting to areas where a fish has jumped to hit a dragon is very effective as is just casting out and twitching it on the surface. Takes are very, very aggressive and using a light tippet is a big mistake. The larger fish key in on these high protein bugs as fall begins making this some of the most exciting dry fly fishing I’ve experienced. Dave
 
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