Flies and the insects that they imitate.
Most serious anglers are aware of fly fishing using the imitations of the Quill Gordon aquatic insect. Fishing with the nymph and the emerger prior to the hatch and fishing with the duns can indeed be productive. However, fishing with the spinner imitation fly is not so well known. First, what is a spinner?
The Red Quill and the Hendrickson are not two different mayflies but indeed they are the same aquatic insect. The Hendrickson is the correct common name of the mayflies. The Red Quill however can be a catch all term. It is a common name often used for several species of Mayflies including the Quill Gordons, and Sulphurs. However, when the term Red Quill is associated with the Hendricksons, it refers to the male spinner because the males are indeed a dark rusty red color. The female spinners are much lighter in color and would not fit the term Red Quill.
The Quill Gordon
The Quill Gordons (Eperous Pleuralis) nymphs are clingers. For most of their life,up until it is near the time for them to hatch, they stay hidden down between and under the rocks on the bottom of the fast water runs and riffles. They are not readily available for trout to eat. A few days before they begin to hatch they move from their fast water habitat to slower moving water. Often this is behind large rocks and boulders near the fast water. Trout are very aware of this short migration of the nymphs and take advantage of them during this time when it is very easy for them to do so.
We recently had a question as to how to get started fly fishing with nymphs. Here is a summary of some recommendations as to what you should do as you begin using nymphs on the trout stream.
The importance of Chironomidae commonly called midges is often overlooked. Midges are very small two winged flies that resemble mosquitoes. Their lives start with eggs deposited by adults after they have mated. Midges normally hatch periodically all year around and are available as food for trout in the larvae, pupae or adult stages throughout the year. Almost all of the midge larvae and pupae are dull shades of light green, cream or red. Even the red ones are dull red.
Here is a short video showing a simple method for making a dubbing brush, for use in making brush flies. This particular brush is used for tying a hipper version of our big brown trout fly. I hope to upload a video of the fly itself in the near future.
Just wanted to send out a reminder to periodically check back to our hatch charts page, where we continue to add the most accurate hatch charts for various streams as time goes on. If you have a major streamshed in mind for which you would like to see a hatch chart, email us, and we'll try to upload it.
I wanted to pass on a great fly tying tip I came across recently. Our sister company, Bestway Outdoor, received a great handwritten note from a fly tyer about using Neer Hair fly tying material for wing posts on parachute style flies. This customer states, "In my experience, 'Neer Hair' is absolutely the bes
In response to several requests about trout fishing with nymphs and in addition to the many classes and blogs already posted on Trout University, Steve Maslar has created a new Ebook to add to his CyberGuide Series which already include "North Carolina Trout Fishing Ebook" and "Small Stream Trout Fishing".
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