Hi Eric ,
Nice and short FP which opens very interesting subject !
I've noticed it as well :
during ant hatch , which starts suddenly and stops even more suddenly , it is a must to switch from live (dry, floating) to dead ( wet, in the water film ) Ant pattern .
One can caught three fish in a row with dry imitation , and than fish stop to take it .
One continue (in a panic ) to change different colors , sizes, shapes of floating Ant , but no, fish doesn't take .
Than he put a wet pattern , and have fish again
The Second One (another guy on the water ) is fishing all the time with the same pattern , which is floating CDC Ant and have fish on every cast without switching from dry to wet imitation , but fishing with 10 or so same patterns : CDC dry Ant .
What is a verdict ?
Assuming that second one guy is me , I will tell Ya my secret :
CDC Ant is reacting as a DRY FLY only on the first few casts and than CDC's become wet . So in a few casts I am actually fishing both , and on that way covering both dry and wet pattern .
After fish take , I have to replace it with the same dry Ant pattern , but just another , fresh dry fly (that's why I have 10 or 20 the same Ants with me ) if I want it to float again .
It will stay forever secret why the fish switch from dry to wet ant ,without any particular changes in hatch or water/weather conditions ??
What do you think ?
Yes I have it !!
But only for those 7-10 feathers around oil gland per ONE Duck .
People usually sell/gets another 1,234,675 feathers from the rest of that poor one Duck , which are , honestly saying , more or less - useless ....
it's simple Z-Man.
the poor ant has fallen into the water, drifts down a bit and gets bored because it can't do any anty-type things anymore.
as it's heavily sighing from all this un-anty boredom, it gulps in water because it doesn't know any better, (they have very-verysmall brains) and down it goes below the surface, struggling and drowns.
the fish know this and are evil so they eat them as the poor ants are struggling for their last breath before drowning because they like to feel the little legs kick inside their throats.
they're a nice little acidic treat for the fish.
Same here Z man. They start floating (sometimes move fish a long way) but swirl or soggy then they sink. Passed floating over the fish twice and it didn't even notice. Next cast 6" deep, fins came out, tail kick and gulped it with a big head turn. Next fish, bit off the hackle to be sure it sank.
Silver, That's just filthy! Are any of those weighted? I'm considering a black bead to be fished under an indicator.
Eric wrote:Silver, That's just filthy! Are any of those weighted? I'm considering a black bead to be fished under an indicator.
They are glass beads held in place with the appropriate color of tying thread and then coated with UV acrylic.
These flies are patterns of Harrison Steeves, who has written several books on terrestrials. He has named then TransparAnts and AttractAnts, but if you google search for them, you won't find the pattern because the spelling will give you definitions of "transparant" and "attractant". Harrison is a clever fellow! The patterns is below. Substitute a UV coating for the epoxy.
Cutties love Ants and in the western rivers and area they are not small or weak, (sorry Guys) so this is what I tie, some of you may have gotten these in a Fabled SL Swap that actually happened.. not like this last one..
As in the army I have never had a bad day fly fishing, some damn uncomfortable ones but never a bad one.
Everybody must believe in something and I believe in Fly Fishing and Tying and believe I will
A member of the order of the Odonata
Vice-President of Project Healing Waters & Fly Fishing CANADA
Are any of those weighted? I'm considering a black bead to be fished under an indicator.
