Angler's Entomology Podcast: Recent Episodes
Eric Frohmberg
Explore the wonderful world of the critters fish eat. Both insects and others, we learn how they live and survive and pick up fly fishing tips in the process.
Bibios, Heather Flies, Hawthorn Flies, Blossom Flies, Love Bugs - you name it. An interesting critter that .. for some reason seems more popular in Europe rather than the US. Whazzup with that?
I was thinking about doing this episode having lunch outside one day, and bemoaning the fact that I didn't have any pictures of these guys that I could publish on the blog. At that moment a bibio that landed on the table in front of me. Of course I was too discombobulated to get a picture before it flew off - but I saw that as a good sign to do this episode.
But that said, there are plenty of pictures of these guys on the interweb. For example, here: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&taxon_id=56097&verifiable=any
As you can see, there is a fair bit of diversity, but note the black or black and red color, the long abdomen, the wings held flat over the body, and the dangley legs.
In terms of patterns, one of the old ones I really like is as follows:
- Hook: Size 12 or 14 wet fly hook
- Body: Ostrich herl (or hair from the ear of a black spaniel)
- Wings: Pale Starling slips (or duck, this is starling, altho I've also seen pigeon)
- Hackle: Black starling, or hen hackle
I would bet a leadwing coachman would also be a great imitation.
Next is an imitation from New Zealand of a Blossom Fly -
Again, pretty straightforward:
- Hook: 12-14 dry fly
- Body: Peacock Herl
- Rib: Black Cock
- Hackle: Black Cock
And this pattern from Malcolm Greenhalgh:
- Hook: Dry Fly 12-14
- Body: Black Floss
- Rib: Peacock Herl
- Wing: Dun hackle tips
- Hackle: Black cock
And this one, which I like because it imitates the dangly legs:
- Hook: 12-14 dry fly
- Body: Black dyed pheasant herl (or goose)
- Hackle: Black cock
- Legs: Black dyed pheasant herl tied back.
- Or you can do the Fore and Aft:
- Hook: 12-14 dry
- Hackle: Black cock at hook bend
- Body: Thread
- Hackle: Black cock at eye.
As you can see, these are all fairly straightforward flies.
Hey all - I don't have any pics of an adult Epeorus pleuralis but here are some nymphs. Note the two tails and the flat, triangular body with eyes on the top of their head. Also note the broad gills on the abdomen - they are always moving.
So in terms of patterns, as I mentioned on the blog, there is a really nice pattern from Ed Ostapczuk's Epeorus.
Tail: Wood Duck Flank
Rib/Gills - brown saddle - trimmed top and bottom
Underbody - Lead, wrapped with brown floss.
Abdomen: Red Fox and Brown Rabbit dubbing
Wing Case: Turkey
Thorax: Beaver Dubbing
Legs: Brown Partridge
This is my adaptation of a Shenck's Cress Bug - where all it is is, in my case:
Head: Flymen Fishing Company's Evolution Clinger Bead Head
Tail: Pheasant tail
Body: Beaver dubbing, in a noodle, trimmed to a triangular shape
Wing Case: Turkey Tail
Another fly I really like, that also uses these bead heads is a fly called the Evolution Heptagenia Nymph.
I also like Gink and Gasoline's Heptagenia nymph
and lastly is my brilliant Iron gerzonkulator - which, who knows how the heck it will do - but if nothing else it will raise eyebrows when your buddy opens your fly box.
Tail: Pheasant Tail
Underbody: Lead zonker strip. Trimmed to a triangular shape
Legs: Hen hackle sandwiched between zonker strip
Overbody: Bug skin - or thin skin, your choice. Camo'd with marker
Eyes: Critical. Large and googly is obviously the best.
So there you go! Oops, and almost forgot - here is me, a few years ago, in front of the cemetery where Theodore Gordon was buried:
Hey Folks, I'm back! And here with an episode mostly about moths. Yep. Moths as they relate to fly fishing. Check it out, I think you will be surprised.
Hi Folks,
Here are some pics of moths (both adults and larvae) as well as some patterns I like to fish. So, while that is said, remember that the good old Elk Hair Caddis makes quite a nice imitation of a moth fluttering around on the surface - as do many other patterns - so if you are in a situation where you think a moth pattern might be useful, and you haven't anything in your box specifically tied to imitate a moth - think outside your box and see what else will work.
So - first, I want to give you a little sense of the diversity of moths. It is huge and crazy - there are giant ones, ones that look like humingbirds, and ones that are teeny tiny. But even your plain grey moths have a huge amount of diversity (which doesn't need to be imitated in your tying). Take a look at this random drawer from my collection - and while they are all generic grey moths - you can see a lot of variation from species to species (and it isn't like my collection is huge!).
So while they all look like various shades of grey moths from far away - they are gorgeous when you look up close - check out this one - which is in genus Zale:
Or this one - which is a common agricultural pest - super common - called a clover looper:
Obviously, you don't need to imitate all that detail, but they are beautiful.
So, how do you imitate them? As I mentioned, an elk hair caddis is a great imitation - both the small ones you have in your box (size 16 and up) or you can tie big ones like this:
Similarly a Stimulator tied large and either light or dark works great:
One of the more interesting patterns I've been playing with is from Dave Whitlock. It is nice and simple - tied only with deer hair - and the pattern is just all about trimming:
OK, let's switch to the larvae - or caterpillars. There is a ton of diversity in caterpillars. Here are a few examples. This one is a Geometrid larva - an inch worm - which are often seen hanging down by a thread of silk (when not imitating a twig).
They also come in brown versions - which are a little less effective from a camouflage perspective when they are on a green leaf...
Here are a few others...
Anyway - with all this diversity you can tie lots of diverse flies as well. Here are a few:
I like this one because it is nice and simple - just a cylinder of foam tied down like a san juan worm. You can do a similar thing with squirmy worm material of the appropriate color. Where, that can be, as you see, anything from green, yellow, white, or brown.
Another one I like (I appeared to have been in a chartreuse mood this day) is one tied like a leech (just smaller, and green). In this case it was tied with lambs wool - which floats for awhile and then sinks - and honestly, I fish it both ways:
You can also opt for a hairy version - in this case, again, just foam wrapped around a hook with a palmered feather.
Which, of course, leads to a wooly worm - which certainly can be used as a caterpillar imitation.
Anyway - these are some ideas. Talk to you next time.
Hi folks! Sorry for the delay, but we're back in the saddle with an episode about Blue Winged Olives ... which are kind of complicated and confusing - but I make it 100% clear. I think. I hope.
Hey folks - yep - worms. Surprisingly interesting and entertaining even if the patterns are pretty mundane. That said, don't forget to check out the blog to see the patterns I've posted.
Hi folks,
I debated about even bothering to have a blog post on this subject, since pretty much everyone knows what a worm looks like and the patterns are pretty mundane. But then I thought, what the heck - and so here you go.
I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of san juan worms in their natural habitat - things are little frozen up here right now and there isn't much worm activity going on. But if you google "tubifex" you'll see what these critters are.
As for earth worms - get a load of this:
Yes, Selene and I use worms for composting kitchen garbage. Works great. I was hoping to catch some actually mating, so you could see that, but no luck, we think it is too cold in the house.
Ok, as for San Juan Worms (or any worm imitation, honestly, all you need is a hunk of chenille or vernille lashed onto a hook. Singe the end to taper it and you are good. The tan one here is described as "earthworm tan" which sounded good to me...
If you would like to expand your fly selection you can always go the route of a squirmy worm:
Which is literally just squirmy worm material lashed onto a hook with a tail. I get my squirmy worm material from kids toys, but you can also get it from a fly shop. I like the clear one as there are lots of worms that don't have a lot of color. That said, they tend to be smaller. Hence the following patterns.
I think you've all seen versions of this before - I like this fly because it sinks well and - in this case is clear, altho, of course, you can use whatever color you want. It is also simple - not that worm flies are complex.
But I saw a cool post by a guy on one of the fly tying facebook pages - a guy named Nick Thomas. He was using this to tie extended bodies on his mayflies, but it also struck me as a great way to tie a small clear worm imitation. It is just tippet material, wrapped around a needle, boiled for five minutes and tied onto a hook. We'll see how well it works.
Today we'll talk about cicadas and leafhoppers - plus we'll have a bonus interview with Charles Card - a guide on Utah's Green River - talking about the fun cicada "hatch" on that river. To learn more about Charles and book him for a trip, you can reach him at Spinnerfall Guide Service: www.spinnerfall.com
So here are some pictures, both of flies and naturals and links for Episode 43. First, let me give you the link to Charles Card's contact info if you would like to book a trip with him on the Green River:
You can book him through Spinnerfall Guide Service
OK, let's look at some bugs and flies.
Here are what eastern dog day cicadas look like. These are the guys we see on a yearly basis up in Maine (although they are not nearly as common as further south):
Here are some closer views, both of a larger one and a smaller one (two different eastern species):
In contrast here is what some of Charlie's Green River Cicadas look like:
And here are some of Charlie's Cicada imitations he ties:
And for the literate trout (or sports):
And here is a link on how to tie them:
Card's Cicada (variation)
OK, let's talk leafhoppers and spittlebugs now:
Here is a gorgeous leafhopper nymph I photographed just a few weekends ago. I like it, not only because of the coloration, but also because you can see the short wings along the side - showing how those insects with an incomplete metamorphosis (depending on the species) look just like the adults but with gradually growing wings:
This is a more typical color that you see:
And one of my favorites - the Red Banded Leafhopper. I like these guys because they are also called sharpshooters.
and lastly a specimen from my collection:
Moving onto Spittlebugs - this is what you will typically see:
and these are what they guys actually look like:
OK, let's move onto imitations:
For both spittlebugs and leafhoppers (and planthoppers and treehoppers) you can use Vince Marinaro's Jassid:
Body: Ginger Hackle trimmed on top and bottom
Wing: Jungle Cock Nail
Here is a picture of one next to one I tied using a starling feather as a substitute for the jungle cock (given how hard to find and expensive legally raised jungle cock is). You can, of course, substitute any feather you want - which may have a better pattern to imitate a spittlebug, for example):
As I mentioned I'm a big fan of Rod Yerger's Leafhopper:
Body: Chartreuse Dubbing
Wings: Chartreuse duck quill
Hackle: Ginger
Or you can tie them in brown (or any color) to imitate a spittlebug or brown leafhopper:
Lastly, as I mentioned in the podcast, a small elk hair caddis would do fine. Here's my imitation using red and chartreuse deer hair to imitate those red banded leafhoppers:
Body: Chartreuse Dubbing
Hackle/Rib: Grizzly Hackle
Wing: mixed and stacked red and chartreuse deer hair
An episode all about the Zebra Caddis - aka the Alderfly. Of course with historical diversions along the way.
Hi Folks, Here are some pics and patterns for this episode on the Zebra Caddis.
Let's start with some of those figures I was talking about in the episode. This is a picture of the typically dish shaped head of the zebra caddis larva. This is from Wiggins, Larvae of the North American Caddisfly Genera (Trichoptera). Note it lists the old name for the genus - Macronema.
Next, from the same source is a cutaway picture of the case - showing the two chambers and the net used to trap food.
Lastly, here is a figure from an article (McArthur 2000) showing the variations in how the case is built for Macrostenum carolina.
OK, let's then talk about the adults. Here is a nice picture of a zebra caddis adult:
And another - this one was actually taken on a wall on the St. Croix River next to the lights near a dam:
In contrast - this is what an alderfly looks like - Zebra Caddis - especially in New England are often called Alder Flies - this this alderfly is in order Megaloptera - related to the fishflies and the dobsonflies:
OK, so how are you going to imitate these guys? For the larvae - I would look at the green rockworm blog - any of those flies would work fine for these.
For the pupa - here is Thomas Ames Jr.'s Sens Pupa from his fantastic book, Caddisflies. I made some modifications, so here is my version of it:
Body: Olive antron dubbing
Wing: Mallard Quill
Hackle - soft rooster - I've tied it beard style
Head - black dubbing and a bead
One of my favorite overall caddisfly adult imitations is the Goddard Caddis - I love it, in part because it floats like a cork. Originally it was simply natural deer hair with a brown rooster hackle and stripped quill antennae. I simply changed the deer hair to give it the striped pattern and lost the antennae.
Here is an E-12 or Europea 12 where I substituted the mallard breast wings with woodcock:
Body: Brown dubbing
Rib: Yellow Thread
Wing: Woodcock
Head/Thread: Yellow
And here is Chappy's Zebra Caddis:
Body: Peacock Herl
Wing: Snowshoe Hair, banded with brown marker (natural or orange)
Hackle: Grizzly or Brown
Lastly, for imitating the female zebra caddis after she has laid her eggs, here is the alder fly:
Which is a simple enough fly:
Tag: Gold Tinsel
Body: Peacock Herl
Wings: Mottled Turkey
Beard: Black Hen
There you go, I hope you enjoyed the episode.
How insects breathe underwater ... and more importantly, how we can imitate that. Which I have to admit, I got a little carried away with. This is probably my geekiest episode. So if you want to get to the fly fishing part - jump to about minute 30.
Everything you could have possibly wanted to know about crayfish. Maybe. As well as the mysterious story around Selene's Sure Bet.
Hey Folks, Here are some the crayfish patterns I mentioned on the podcast.
First we'll talk about Rick Hafele's pattern. I'm pretty sure he calls it the creeper crayfish, but I'm not 100% sure. The original pattern is pretty simple:
Claws - Red Squirrel bunches tied either side of hook and divided
Thorax - dubbing to match color
Legs - soft hackle to match color
Carapace - Red Squirrel butts from claws tied over dubbing. (I find it helps to fold the squirrel forward, tie it down and then fold it back over the dubbing to form the carapace).
Rib - gold wire
Abdomen - continue with dubbing
Overbody on tail - continue with red squirrel butts
Telson - tail - leave the butts long but trimmed even
Modifications I add include mono eyes and a bead at the tail. The bead is nice in that it adds weight, but also forces the telson up so it doesn't get in the way of your eye.
The thing I really like about this fly is that you can tie smaller sizes and easily modify the color based on what you have locally. Check out this picture:
Where from left to right, the claw/overbody material is:
Either fox squirrel or grey dyed red squirrel
Reedbuck (for my South African readers - and because the color is a good match for my local crayfish
Red Squirrel (the teeny Eastern US species)
and Grey Squirrel
Another of my favorite patterns is Kelly Galloup's "Galloup's Craw. Super simple and very suggestive: Side view:
Top View:
which is super simple.
Head/Antennae - spun deer hair - small bunch with a few fibers left long for antennae
Claws - Zonker rabbit strips
Body - cross cut rabbit strips to match claws. Palmered
Telson - a trimmed bit of the cross cut rabbit strip
I love this because it is super simple and it is easy to modify. I love using squirrel strips in place of rabbit. And because there is no top or bottom, you can tie lead eyes on and it will ride hook point up (and be weighted).
Lastly Selene's Orange Sure Bet:
This fly is a killer-
Head - brass cone
Body - trimmed deer hair - orange, tied muddler style
Tail - Orange and Chartreuse Zonker Strip (and good luck finding this!).
So, with that I'll sign off til next episode!
For the purposes of this podcast, the critters I'm talking about are the tiger striped nymphs that fall in the stonefly families Perlidae and Perlodidae. Enjoy!
As I mentioned on the podcast, if you are in the Southern Maine area, on Thursday January 9, we'll be having a fly tying demo at Joshua's Restaraunt in Brunswick, ME from 6 to about 8. Bring your fly tying material if you want (and a lamp) or just come and learn about these insects in person and their imitations.
So, as I mention in the podcast, I'm referring to two families of stoneflies when I talk about "golden" stones - both Perlidae and Perlodidae. What draws them together is the fact that they have these tiger striped nymphs. Like this - where this one happens to be a Perlid:
One of the things that is distinctive about them is that you can often find their exuvia (discarded exoskeleton) on the rocks around a stream. This is a fun picture where not only do you see the exuvia of the Perlid stonefly, but exuvia of four other aquatic insects (including one on the Perlid) that hatched.
OK, so there are a ton of fun patterns that you can use to imitate these guys. Where it is worthwhile knowing that in both these families, not all members have this tiger striped pattern. Some are just plain brown or tan, and all these imitations can be adapted colorwise to match those stoneflies. Similarly, you can use all of these to imitate the generally smaller Perlodidae, where I would use a size 12-10 sized hook, or the larger Perlidae - 8-4 sized hook. So let's start with Charlie Brook's Montana Stone:
Hook: has to be pretty long - 2x or 3x.
Tail: Biots
Body: Brown yarn
Rib1: Yellow yarn tied in at head, wound back and then forward in a crisscross pattern
Rib 2: Gold wire - tied over yellow yarn
Thorax Brown yarn
Legs: Grizzly and brown hackle along with dun or white ostrich herl.
Here is Polly Rosborough's Golden Stone imitation:
Tail: Yellow dyed mallard, or teal, or wood duck
Abdomen: gold yarn or floss
Shellback: Yellow dyed mallard, teal or wood duck
Rib: Thick yellow thread, such as rod building thread
Wingcase: Teal neck feather
Legs Yellow dyed mallard, teal or wood duck
Ok, then you get to my flies. Here is one I call Eric's Acroneuria, I like it because it is simple materials wise.
Tail: stacked yellow and brown (or black) deer hair or buck tail
Body: wrapped butts of tail tied up to thorax
Rib: Optional gold wire
Wing case: butts of tail folded back and forward
Legs: Butts of tail folded down and trimmed to length and density
Head; Bead
Or Eric's Rubber Stone:
Tail: Brown rubber legs
Body: Yellow and brown rubber legs wound up to thorax
Legs: Brown rubber legs
Thorax: Brown dubbing
Wing case: Burnt pheasant church window feathers
Head: Bead
Lastly, here is a simple fly that sinks well, Eric's Bead Stone:
Head: Copper Bead
Body: Alternating yellow and brown glass beads
Tail: Rubber legs
Body: Rubber legs
Wing case: goose quill doubled over twice
You'll notice on some of these I have a single wing case and some a double wing case. Stoneflies, as you know, have two wing cases. When I tie one it is because I know the fish can't count.
OK, for the adults, remember that all these stoneflies can hatch into adults with all sorts of color patterns. Some of the Perlodidae hatch into light colored adults - best imitated by a yellow sally type fly. While a lot of the other stones hatch into something more brown or tan in coloration. (Where sometimes the "tan" of the body can be rather yellow).
To me there are two styles of stonefly adults that are worth tying - the active fluttering adult and the spent or drowned adult. I'll give examples of the fluttering adults first:
So, let's start with a classic fly, the Sofa Pillow:
Tail; Elk (or deer) hair
Body: yellow yarn or dubbing
Rib: Brown hackle
Wing: Elk (or deer) hair
Hackle: Brown - tied full
A similar great fly is the Stimulator:
Tail: Elk or deer hair
Body: Yellow dubbing
Rib: Grizzly or badger
Wing: Elk or deer hair
Thorax: Amber or orange dubbing
Hackle: Grizzly or badger
In terms of flies that sit more flush with the surface, here is a fly, that I typically tie in yellow sally type colors that works well for me. Not sure where it came from or what it is called:
Tail: Deer hair
Body: Dubbing to match natural
Rib; Cream or grizzly hackle; trimmed on top
Wing Case: Quill to match natural
Hackle: Grizzly or Cream
here is a cool pattern called a Silhouette Stone
Tail: Deer hair
Body: Gold or yellow dubbing over which is brown or tan raffia
Rib: Brown or ginger hackle trimmed on top
Underwing; Elk or light deer hair
Hackle: Brown or Ginger trimmed on top
Wing: Raffia also tied over thorax
This is a variation of John Blunt's Downwing Hornberg as described in Thomas Ames Jr.'s book Hatch Guide for New England Streams.
Thread: Black
Body: Flat Silver Tinsel
Underwing: Yellow Saddle Hackle Fibers (I used yellow calf tail for more body)
Wing: Woodduck Flank Feather, tied downwing
Cheeks: Jungle cock eyes (I omitted)
Hackle: Grizzly
And lastly, here is Matt Vinciguerra's Delaware Yellow Stonefly Wet
Thread: Black
Tails: Partridge hackle
Body: Yellow floss
Ribbing: Black thread
Wing: Bronze mallard or widgeon
Beard: Partridge Hackle
Thanks and talk to you next time.
Aka Green Caddis, Green Sedges or Rhyacophilidae. A common, easily identified caddis - at least in it's larval stage, that has wonderful behavior that makes it fun and effective to fish. We'll talk about the critter - but also a lot about the flies and the history of the flies that imitate them.
First of all, here are the details on the fly tying night at Joshua’s Restaurant (http://www.joshuastavern.com) in Brunswick Maine, hosted by the Merrymeeting Bay Trout Unlimited. It will be December 5th from 6 to 8. I will bring some examples of these insects and we’ll talk a bit about their lifestyle and habits. Selene of Maine will demonstrate tying Gary LaFontaine’s Deep Sparkle Pupa. Justin Crouse of Guide’s Choice Flies will demonstrate how to tie an Elk Hair Caddis. And Ray Minchak will demonstrate tying a Green Caddis Larvae. In terms of materials bring:
Deep Sparkle Pupa:
- Body - 1/2 olive green sparkle yarn and 1/2 olive fur
- Underwing - dark gray partridge fibers
- Overwing - combed antron yarn tan or white
- Legs: Grouse or Partridge
- Head: Brown fur
Elk Hair Caddis
- Olive Dubbing
- Elk Hair
- Grizzly Hackle for a size 14 hook (or your choice hook)
Green Caddis Larvae
- Dark Brown 70 Denier thread
- Curved scud style hooks
- Lead wire
- Super glue
- Chartreuse Ultra Wire
- Light olive australian possum
- Dark Brown Australian possum
- Dubbing Brush
OR, bring your own favorite green rock worm pattern to share. And there will also be a table set up for those who just want to hang out and tie.
OK, for the blog post. First we’ll start with a few pics of these critters. These two pics show the characteristics of the larvae. As you know they are free living - so they do not have a case. They will be crawling around on the surface of rocks (or drifting, much to our and the trout’s delight). Note the bright green color and the bulbous abdominal segments.
Obviously when you imitate the larvae you’ll want to design a fly with those bulbous abdominal segments and the bright green color. Again, check your local critters - some species have darker bands with each abdominal segment or a dark band running down the back of all the segments. Match what you have locally.
Anyway - my simplest imitation, which I like most, is simply a tungsten bead followed by a series of glass beads. Like this:
As I mentioned in the podcast, Thomas Ames Jr. adds a bit of dubbing behind the tungsten bead and the first glass bead and at the end of the beads. I’ll admit, this makes the fly look more professional and intentional!
What then follows are a whole series of larval imitations that are super simple and basically variations on a theme. Some sort of bulky material (depending on the size of the larva you want to imitate) and wrapped around the hook. You can make the head a bead or a blob of dark dubbing. Your call if you want to add legs of partridge or other fibers.
This is the latex caddis - made by wrapping green latex around the hook. The material I used here were old dish washing gloves. You can also buy green colored condoms (believe it or not) that work as well.
Another version is using synthetic hair - such as craft fur or fishhair that is twisted into a rope and wrapped around the hook shank.
Or green wire.
Or twisted antron - either wrapped around the hook or twisted into a furl and tied down. You get the idea. There are a million options.
This is Oscar Feliu’s Rhyacophila Larva - which I really like. The pattern is:
- Thread: Black
- Underbody dubbed light grey or white hare’s ear or rabbit fur or similar
- Abdomen: Chartreuse (or olive) larva lace or similar product
- Legs - Dark deer hair tips or partridge fibers
- Head: Black rabbit fur
Here is a link to him tying this fly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr8RaSbFNPw
OK, let’s move onto the next stage that you may want to imitate - which is the pharate adult or what anglers call the pupa. This is the stage of the insect that hatches from the cased pupa on the substrate of the stream which swims quickly to the surface to hatch.
Of course the classic fly to imitate this stage is Gary LaFontaine’s Deep Sparkle Pupa - which Selene will demonstrate how to tie at the Merrymeeting Bay Trout Unlimited Fly Tying night on December 5, 6-8 PM at Joshua’s Restaurant in Brunswick, ME. This particular fly is an emergent sparkle pupa and was tied by Justin Crouse of Guide’s Choice Flies. It can also be used for this stage. The deep sparkle pupa is essentially the same without the strand of antron off the tail and without the deer hair wing. I have this picture mostly because I tie horrible deep sparkle pupae - which is why Selene is doing the demo!
The pattern is:
- Body - 1/2 olive green sparkle yarn and 1/2 olive fur
- Underwing - dark gray partridge fibers
- Overwing - combed antron yarn tan or white
- Legs: Grouse Partridge or Wood duck
- Head: Brown fur
Another cool fly is the Fox Poopah, originated by Tim Fox out in California in the 1990s.
- Body: Olive or Tan Vernille (or micro-chenille).
- Under-Body: Silver Tinsel
- Ribbing: Gold Wire
- Legs: Partridge
- Antennae: Wood duck or mallard flank fibers
- Thorax: Black Ostrich herl.
Or you can use the TieDown Caddis as recommended by Rick Hafele as a good imitation of this stage. This one is tied by Selene:
- Tail: Tied down deer body hair
- Body: Olive dubbing
- Hackle: Brown
- Shellback: Brown deer body hair
My only advice here is to tie down the tail and trim, then use a separate clump of deer body hair to make the shell back.
Lastly, a wonderfully simple and effective fly is a simple soft hackle. A green thread body and a woodcock or grouse hackle is all you need.
OK, once the pharate adult/pupa makes it to the surface, it will molt again (quickly) and fly off. There is an opportunity to fish this stage as there will be cripples and depending on the weather conditions, the adult may sit on the surface of the water for longer or shorter times. Some nice patterns to imitate this stage include:
The Henryville Caddis:
- Thread: Olive or black
- Body: Olive dubbing
- Rib: Grizzly hackle with the barbs slightly shorter than the hook gape
- Wing: Woodduck flank used as an under wing, over which are matched sections of natural dark goose wing quill tied tent style
- Hackle: Dark ginger
The Chuck Caddis (tied by Selene):
- Body: Olive or tan dubbing
- Wing: Woodchuck guard hair
- Hackle: Mixed brown and grizzly
The next important stage to be able to imitate, however, is the egg laying female. At this stage, the female swims or crawls to the bottom of the stream and lays eggs. Once finished, however, she releases herself to drift slowly back to the surface. This is a great stage to imitate as she seems resigned to her fate as trout food and the trout happily cooperate. Some flies to imitate this stage include:
The Prince Nymph:
- Tail: Brown goose biots
- Body: Peacock Herl
- Rib: Gold Wire
- Legs: Brown Hackle wound
- Wing: Two white goose biots.
The Leadwing Coachman
- Tag: flat gold tinsel (optional)
- Body: Peacock Herl
- Rib: Fine gold wire
- Hackle: Dark Brown
- Wing: Goose or Duck wing quill
The March Brown Wet
- Tail: Woodduck Flank
- Body: Hares mask
- Rib: Gold wire
- Hackle: Partridge, grouse, or woodduck
- Wing: Speckled turkey or ringneck pheasant quill sections
Dark Cahill Wet
- Tail: Dark Ginger hackle barbs or woodduck flank fibers
- Body: Dark grey muskrat or similar
- Hackle: Dark Ginger
- Wing: Woodduck flank
Or you could use one of the dry flies we’ve already discussed, like a Chuck Caddis or a Henryville Special weighted and fished wet.
Welcome to Episode 37 - where we'll be talking about those things that are large enough to see, but to small to really see what they are. things like water mites, daphnia, copepods and ostracods. They may not be too important for actual fly fishing, but they are super important in terms of the food chain. So - sit back, enjoy, and I hope you learn something new!
So ... in my just released episode on True Bugs I mentioned a great podcast that interviewed Erica McAlister of London's Natural History Museum. I said add it to the blog post on flies. Well, after releasing the episode ... I realized I've never done a podcast (or blog post) on flies. I've done Mosquitoes. And Blackflies. And Midges and Craneflies ... but not flies. Sorry, I'm getting old and senile.
So, here you go, a blog post on Flies - with a link to Erica McAlister's interview. You can get to it by clicking HERE
True bugs? What is a false bug? Well, true bugs is the term used by entomologists to refer to the guys that are in suborder Heteroptera. You may know them as the backswimmers, water boatmen, water bugs, and water striders. Join me as we talk about their cool behavior and habits. And check out the blog for some pics and patterns.
Hi Folks, sorry for the delay in getting this out - good summer fishing and busy school season getting my daughter off to college.
But here you go - some pics of what we were talking about and some patterns to imitate them. Let's start with Water Boatmen, Family Corixidae:
So, this is a nice view from the top - note the hair on the ends of the oar like legs. Additionally, note the wings along the back - you can make out the covered first half withe membranous portion visible as the diamond shaped part right at the back.
Here is a side view of the same critter:
And here is a picture of a live one.
Where you can see the shiny air bubble at the base of the abdomen.
Moving on, here are some backswimmers: Notonectidae:
Again, note the oar like legs coming out the back, and, in contrast to the water boatman, how the back is more contoured and lighter colored. Remember, these guys swim on their back so their back is facing the light sky, and hence, is light colored.
Here is a top down view:
And lastly, this is a just collected, live specimen. Note the bright red eyes. Some tiers use a head of red thread to mimic that color.
In terms of imitations - there are a ton of imitations of these guys out there. And most of them are very straightforward and easy to modify with the materials on hand. They all have legs (rubber, peacock herl, ostrich herl, etc), a body that can mimic a shiny air bubble (peacock herl, floss, tinsel), and a darker back covering (hair, pheasant, quill) and that is pretty much it. So here is my version:
Body: Lead wire covered with White Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails
Wing Case: Goose Quill
Legs: Peacock Herl
This one I thought interesting because it added a silver bead at the base of the fly to imitate the air bubble:
Air bubble: Silver bead superglued to base of hook
Body: Peacock Herl
Wing case: Raffia
Legs: Rubber
Being a fan of traditional flies, I do think the Prince Nymph is a very good imitation of a water boatman:
Tail: Brown Goose Biots
Body: Peacock Herl
Rib: Tinsel
Wing Case: White Goose Biots
But lastly, a fly I really like is Gary LaFontaine's Sparkle Boatman. Where he pointed out that these insects have a lot of movement in the water. He imitates that with what is basically a soft hackle with an antron body that is tied fuzzy. Here is my version:
Bead: I added a gold one, Gary did not include one.
Body: Muskrat; followed with a dubbing noodle of ... I think I used tan Z-lon
Collar: Soft hackle ... I think mine was grouse ... honestly I pulled it out of my waste basket...
OK, let's move onto giant water bugs - family Belostomatidae:
Can't get much more giant than that, can you? Well, actually, you can, in the tropics, but you can't get much bigger than that up in Maine!
This guy is dead ... frozen, I know he is dead, otherwise I wouldn't be holding him like that.
Here is another species that is a little smaller from the top:
And the side - where I like this picture because you get a nice view of the rostrum - the piercing and sucking mouthparts:
So, as I mentioned, there are various sizes of these guys and there are other families that look and act (for our purposes) like small giant water bugs (for those interested I'm talking about family Naucoridae). Anyway, here is a picture of three of those specimens side by side giving you a sense of scale. I point this out because I want to emphasize that you don't need 2 1/2 in flies in your fly box. You can get away with something smaller and more manageable. Additionally, I think it is the movement that really keys the trout in - namely that pumping of the legs and diving.
To imitate these guys I just do a simple spun deer hair body with some dumbell eyes and rubber legs. Simple and easy:
And side view showing how it is trimmed flat:
Lastly, here are a top and side view of water striders - Family Gerridae:
And with that, I'll leave it. Talk to you next time.
Hi folks,
Part of the delay in getting this episode out was fishing (I knew you'd understand). On the positive side, that fishing gave me the opportunity to get some good pictures of crane flies while I was out there.
This is one of my favorites - mostly because it shows what night collecting with a UV light can be like. This was on a little brook trout stream up by the Canadian border where we camped a few weeks ago. The crane fly in the pic was pretty darn big - maybe 2" long. Note all the critters around the crane fly, tho. Those are all mayflies and caddisflies that had come to the light. And yes, the fishing was good.
Here is another crane fly - taken on another trip this spring. What I like about this guy is that he is only about 1/2" long - so you can see (well, you can't without scale, but believe me) the variation in size of these critters. Tie up some smaller guys - they don't all have to be giants. I also like this picture because you can easily see the halteres - the reduced second pair of wings that are distinctive of order Diptera - the flies:
In the podcast I mentioned how some crane flies have cool patterns on the legs - which make them very distinctive when they fly. Obligingly, this guy appeared on another recent fishing trip:
OK, how about some flies. Here is what I use for the adults. This is a bit of a fancy version in that I added a parachute hackle to the thorax - often I don't bother. It is simply a foam body, knotted monofilament legs, and hackle tip wings. Really not much to it:
The larvae are also pretty simple to tie. To imitate that swimming motion adding a tail is worthwhile. This fellow is simply a leather strip tied down with a tail and wrapped to the head. The strip is the fringe from a cheesy 1960s style vest my ex-wife gave my daughter when she was little. She didn't dig it, so it ended up in my fly tying pile.
Lastly, probably my favorite and most useful crane fly imitation is simply a hare's ear body dubbed on a large scud hook. I mean really - what's not to like about this fly? Simple, buggy, effective. Can't beat it:
That's it - now get out there and fish!
Hi folks,
Sorry for the delay in getting this out - but here is an episode all about crane flies. Pretty cool stuff once you take a moment to actually spend some time looking at them. Enjoy!
We all look at spider webs to see what has hatched - but this dives into the critters who actually make the web. There will also be a few stories about my troubled relationships with these creepy crawlies.
I don't have a huge number of pics of aquatic spiders - in part because some of the coolest ones are in locales where I have yet to travel. But here is what I've got:
Dock spiders - Genus Dolomedes - these guys are great, big and super creepy. There is something about swimming in a local pond and seeing these guys on the shore ready to shoot out where you are to get their prey. You'll see them on structures around streams - even on logs a bit off the stream. Or, my personal favorite, is on the underside of very low bridges, when you are canoeing under them, and you have to lay on your back and watch them pass over you inches from your nose and body.
This is actually a nice picture as you can see how he is resting his front legs on the surface of the water feeling for vibrations. Once they determine something is stuck in the surface tension, they scoot out and grab it.
Here's another fishing spider. On this one note the 8 legs. You'll then see two extra appendages coming off the front. In this picture those are not the jaws (or chelicerae) but the pedipalps. Pedipalps are other appendages that are used in the males as a sperm transfer organ during reproduction.
Here is a nice example of a Tetragnathidae or long jawed spider. As I said in the podcast, these guys are common along the sides of trout streams, they make those orb webs, and they catch and eat the same kinds of critters that trout eat. Dig those big chelicerae coming off the front end.
That's it - hope you enjoyed the episode.
I had grand plans to tie lots of flies and take lots of pictures for you. I even purchased some extension tubes for my camera so I could take some really nice close ups. Well, two things happened – like a lot of you I’m sure, life’s other responsibilities have managed to get in the way so I’ve been having a hard time finding time at the vice, and secondly, the close up tubes just demonstrated how appallingly horrible a fly tier I am! Nothing like magnification to highlight all your misplaced materials.
So – we’ll see what I’m able to put together today – I do hope to tie some – but I suspect you are mostly going to get links to patterns.
So – let’s start with the European March Brown – where there are a few flies of interest. First is Dame Juliana Berner’s “Dun Fly” –
http://seventeenthcenturyflies.blogspot.com/2010/07/you-are-to-note-that-there-are-twelve.html
This is a nice page (and website) that gives some history of these early flies (as well as patterns). The pattern we are interested in here is the “Dun Fly” for the month of March.
From there let’s move onto the March Brown Wet Fly. Here is a nice step by step on tying the March Brown Wet Fly:
https://www.sexyloops.com/flytying/marchbrown.shtml
I can’t find a link which has a good description and picture of GEM Skue’s march brown nymph. Granted it is basically a Gold Ribbed Hare’s Ear – but here is the pattern and I’ll try to tie a decent one up today and post a picture.
Hook: Nymph Hook – 12-16 I used a Mustad 3906b
Thread: Red; although honestly I think black or brown is better
Tail: brown or furnace hen hackles
Body: Dubbed hairs mask
Rib: Gold Tinsel
Hackle: Brown or furnace hen hackles
Wing Case: Pheasant tail fibers
And then here are some pictures of a few flies that Selene and I experimented with last night using the new clinger mayfly heads:
Selene’s is on the far left – the grey one. She tied that with a dubbing brush – which I like and a tail of pheasant tail (all of these have tails of pheasant tail). The next two are mine made out of a dubbing loop. All of them were brushed out and then trimmed into the triangular shape. It is an interesting and fun idea, but I think still could use some further experimentation and revision.
Of course I love Don Bastian’s flies. Here is a link to his March Brown Flymph – especially good as for a Western March Brown although would do well for Eastern March Browns as well – and more importantly, his comparadun. A great fly for any of the March Brown duns.
https://donbastianwetflies.com/tag/march-brown/
Here is a picture of Solomon’s March Brown Floating Nymph – taken from Thomas Ames Jr.’s book Hatch Guide for New England Streams. The version tied in the book was tied by Mary Dette Clark. Mine does not exactly look like hers!
Hook: Mustad 9671
Thread: White or Brown
Wing Bulge – dyed brown hair extending to the center of the shank
Tail: Ring-necked pheasant tail fibers
Body – beige brown fox dubbing
Legs: Brown partridge
Head: brown thread or white with brown lacquer
Here’s a great picture and pattern of Preston Jenning’s March Brown Dun
https://www.sparsegreymatter.com/viewtopic.php?t=1416
In contrast, here is Art Flick’s March Brown:
https://www.sparsegreymatter.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=719
where the difference between the two flies is very subtle. Preston used mallard flank for the wings while Flick used wood duck (among a few other minor differences). I dunno – from a practical perspective I just can’t get too worked up about those kinds of differences.
Here is a link to the Grey Fox
https://www.sparsegreymatter.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=736
Art Flick’s and Preston Jenning’s Grey Fox are the same.
Here you have it! An episode about March Browns - for April. Check out the blog for some pics and patterns - and enjoy the episode!
Yep - an episode about Drift - that phenomenon where insects drift in the current and that we intentionally and unintentionally imitate. There is a surprising amount of why/when/how that is out there. Plus plenty that we don't know. I hope you enjoy.
Sorry folks, been pretty sick this week, so I'm both behind and don't have as many good patterns and pics as I'd like. But enough woe is me, here is what you are looking for:
First - here's the link to the March Brown Madness event coming up this Saturday in Brunswick Maine - it is a hoot.
https://www.facebook.com/events/march-brown-madness/998243613698870/
and here is a link, the following weekend to the Western Maine Fly Fishing Expo - which is also a great time:
https://rangeleyflyshop.com/blogs/news/western-maine-fly-fishing-expo-2019
Here is the article about the Australian kid who was attacked by a roving mob of amphipods (really!):
https://www.livescience.com/60067-sea-fleas-gnaw-teens-legs.html
I've gone through my pics, and honestly, as I mentioned, these guys are small and I don't have really great pics of them. But here are a few that were on my float tube:
Amazingly, I found the 47 attempts at getting a picture of a beach flea, and found one that was ok! Here it is:
And here is a not too bad pic of a pair of scuds close up - they've been pickled so they've lost their color, but you can see the structure of their legs and carapace.
for patterns I don't have a lot for you - sorry, like I've said, I've been under the weather - so I haven't been tying or taking photos this last week. But here's one of my favorites - called, I think, a Jelly Bean:
It is ostrich herl for the legs, with built up layers of UV glue as the shell back. A wire (or thread) rib and you color one of the layers of UV glue to give it whatever color you want. Nice, easy and it looks good.
Yes, this is the "amphi-podcast". Amphipods are a super important trout food - often being found year round - but they are also interesting in their diversity. We'll even talk about mind control in this episode!
Hi Folks - all about Winter - we are in the depths of it, so why not learn something about it! In particular, how the critters fish eat survive it. No blog post, but here are two links: Here is one for the Western Maine Fly Fishing Expo: https://www.bethelmaine.com/events/details/western-maine-fly-fishing-expo-8018; And here is a link to that article I pointed out in the podcast - about dragonfly migration: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2018.0741 Hope you enjoy.
Ok folks, here are some patterns and pics for Episode 29 on Beetles.
First we’ll talk about the whirligig beetles – in part because they are so cool.
Here is a picture showing their split eyes. You can see the two eyes on the topside – used for seeing above water. And then if you look at the left side of the beetle (facing you) you can also see one of the lower eyes, used for seeing underwater. Pretty cool huh?
In this picture you can see their legs – the rear rudder like legs, the middle legs for propulsion and the front legs for grasping food.
Next are the water pennies – here is a picture from the topside –
And a picture from the bottoms side – where you can see the legs and the white gills on the underside.
And my water penny imitation – Schenk’s Water Penny – which is just a Schenk’s Cress Bug tied in a color to imitate a water penny. They are simple – make a dubbing loop at the rear of the fly, load it up with dubbing of your choice and color, spin it and wrap onto the hook. Then brush out to the sides and trim to flat on the top and bottom and round the sides to make a water penny larva imitation.
Predaceous diving beetles are next:
This adult is one of the big guys – he is about an inch and half long. They are lots of smaller ones as well, however.
My imitation is tied with a bead head, deer hair body, raffia shell back and glass bead for an air bubble. Oh, and of course, rubber legs – because rubber legs are great! As it sits in the water the bead tips the head down like the naturals rest. Hence, I’m calling it the “Butt’s Up”. Here is the pattern:
Air bubble – glass bead
Body – Black Deer Hair spun
Shell back – black raffia
Legs – rubber legs
Head – bead or cone or dumbells
Here is Selene’s Water Tiger (Predaceous Diving Beetle Larva) imitation – and pattern:
The Suspender:
1770 Daiichi Hook
Bent strand of 0.20 non-lead wire to form head near the bend. Lash it on with the blunt end towards the bend to make a square shaped blunt base for the head.
Two brown biots for the mandibles – facing outwards
X-small plastic dumbell eyes
Cover head with small amount of rabbit dubbing with guard hairs.
Lash on tan scud back
Ribbing – 6/0 tan thread
Dub a bit more tan rabbit dubbing to finish head
Dub beaver cream dubbing tapered to tail
Fold back the scud back and lash down
Tie down ribbing
Pick out guard hairs for legs
Tie on one CDC oiler puff natural dun with butt of feather behind the eye and the tuft over the eye
In contrast, to Predaceous Diving Beetles, Water Scavenger Beetles rest with their heads up. They look very similar – which you can see from the natural:
But the important differences are that when they grab an air bubble it covers the underside of their abdomen as well – hence I tied this imitation with a white underbody. I also tied it with wool (rather than deer hair) well, because I felt like it, and used foam for the shell back. Even though the fly strictly speaking rests butts up, I’m calling it a “head’s up” because it it imitating a water scavenger beetle – and that’s how the naturals rest. The fish aren’t going to be able to tell a difference between the head end of a hook and the tail end…
“Head’s Up”
Body – spun wool, black on top and white on bottom
Shellback – black foam, coated with black nail polish to give it shine
Legs – rubber legs
Head- bead,or cone, or dumbbells
For Riffle Beetles, I wanted something that shows the segmented body of the adult beetle, but has a bit of shine representing the fine layer of air around the body. Here you go:
Looks kinda like an ant imitation, doesn’t it? Which is why I named it:
“Eric’s Not-an-Ant”
Body –tungsten beads – large then small
Legs – fine rubber legs
Terrestrial Beetles:
You know what terrestrials look like, so no need for pictures of the naturals – plus the point here is to just have a variety of sizes and shapes to imitate the naturals. So, here are some of our favorite patterns:
Selene’s Moon Bug:
Tag: Glow in the dark braided underbody
Legs: Black hackle wound on through
Shell back – black closed cell foam
Stripe: uni-stretch glow in the dark – tied along the back the length of the hook shank
Fire orange thread to tie off behind the head of the foam.
Glow in the dark head cement dot on top of the head. Then sharpie marker dot small than the glow in the dark spot.
Here is my Nail Beetle. Which, you’ll see the wings protruding below the elytra (or nail) on this fly. Somewhere I was reading how some anglers noticed that the wings of terrestrials, when they fall in the water, often remain extended – and they felt this was important to include in their flies. I always thought of that as over analyzed hooey, until I happened to look down and see a scrap of raffia at my feet where the color really looked like the color of those extended wings. So, I figured what the hell, and I added it:
Eric’s Nail Fly:
Abdomen – strip of foam wrapped around the hook shank to form a segmented body
Wing – smoke raffia
Shell back – stick on fingernails – covered with nail polish of your choice
Thorax – Rubber legs, dubbing and strip of foam over the top
Finally, here is a link to a pistachio beetle recipe:
https://www.flyflinger.com/beetle.php
Happy New Year! All about beetles - terrestrial and aquatic ones. Lots of patterns on the blog this episode, so check it out at http://anglersentomology.libsyn.com/
Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of whitefly nymphs or adults. Last time we were fishing this hatch we were having so much fun I didn't take any pictures. Something I'm still kicking myself for ... sort of...
But here are some flies you can tie up if you want to fish these guys - starting with Selene's whitefly nymph she designed:
The pattern is:
Tail: Cream or Grey ostrich herl
Body - two yellow glass beads
Gills -ostrich herl tags pulled up from tail and lashed down between beads
Thorax - brown or tan glass bead
Wing case - turkey quill over brown or tan bead
Legs - remaining ostrich herl tied down.
Eyes - plastic dumbbell eyes
Another cool whitefly nymph pattern can be found here - at the American Angler Magazine.
Next is an idea from Thomas Ames, Jr. - a white usual, to imitate the adult. I thought this was a great idea, so here you go:
Tail: Hare's foot - from between the toes
Body: Hare's foot dubbing
Wing: Hare's foot - from between the toes
A White Wulff is a standard fly to imitate a whitefly dun. I'm kind of partial to Wulffs because Lee Wulff actually lived in this area of Maine for awhile - his kids went to the school that my kids are going to. Anyway, I modified it into a parachute pattern - which I like as I feel it imitates the spinner or a cripple more effectively:
Lastly, Selene was tying up a bunch of Hexamongous for an order and we had the great idea of tying up a white one to imitate a Whitefly cripple. We immediately called it a Honkeymongous, which is probably politically incorrect, but there you go. This is in a size 14 - the previous flies are a size 12 or so, but a size 14 for this fly is right size with the longer tail/shuck, etc. Here's the fly and the pattern:
Hook:
Tail: Mallard flank feather fibers
Body: White or cream dubbing
Rib: Dental floss (split in this case to match the smaller fly)
Loop wing and wing: Mallard flank feather fibers
There you go - a pile of flies to fish your next whitefly hatch. Enjoy
Today we are talking about whiteflies - Ephoron leukon and album, altho we'll talk about the genus overall which is worldwide in distribution. Of course we'll also digress, talking about sex without sex and other fun stuff. When your done be sure and check out the new Facebook "Anglers Entomology Podcast" page
Hi folks - here is an episode all about Isonychia bicolor - which goes by a dozen or so other names. Besides the confusing naming situation, we'll talk about it's bizarre habits, imitations and it's dubious connection to the Leadwing Coachman fly.
Hi Folks - here are the pics and links for the episode about Isonychia bicolor. We'll start with a picture of the nymph:
Where you can see it's typical minnow like shape. You can see the hair on the front legs that is distinctive about this group, but here is a close up:
Those front legs are raised up and held into the current so passing algae, small critters, etc., in the drift are captured, and then gobbled up. It is very distinctive and definitive - if you catch something with those front hairs then you got an Isonychia.
Let's move onto imitations:
As I mentioned in the blog, Don Bastian has a nice page on his blog specific to these guys. He has some very nice patterns I like - you can find that here:
https://donbastianwetflies.com/tag/nymphs/
Another pattern I like - that is traditional, is Walt Dette's imitation of an Isonychia:
Where the pattern is:
Tail: Pheasant tail
Underbody - mix of muskrat and red dubbing
Overbody - grey ostrich herl
Wingcase - mallard quill
Thorax - grey muscrat
Legs - Partridge
And here is Art Flick's dun variant:
It's nice and simple - usually tied on a short shank hook, but
Tail: Dun fibers
Body: Stripped Red/Brown Quill
Hackle: Dun
where the tail and the hackle are tied long.
And then lastly, here is a link to the spinner pattern by Mark Lord.
Here you go folks, finally, an episode about teeny weeny flies. I hope you find the diversity interesting - well, because it is. And I've, as usual, added some pics to the blog - so you can see what I'm talking about - both of midges and of some of my favorite flies: http://anglersentomology.libsyn.com/
Let's start with a picture of an adult midge and a larva next to each other. They are probably different species and may even be different subfamilies - but this will get you oriented:
So let's look at some larvae in more detail. Here is a nice chironomid larva with lots of hemoglobin in it - a blood worm:
And just a regular old one. Note on this how little differentiation there is between the the thorax and the abdomen. You can see the sclerotized head capsule as well.
Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of pupae...that said, I also I don't know how I managed to talk for 20 minutes about midges and not mention Serendipities, but I did. It is one of my favorite flies and works great as imitating a suspended pupa. Here is one - the deer hair thorax is trimmed a little short, but here you go:
There are all sorts of ways you can suspend your midge pupa, and honestly, I'm not sure what I did with this one! But this would be a good one that I'm suspending below the surface - with maybe a greased tippet...
Or something like this for further down in the water column:
For adults, as I mentioned, I love the griffith's gnat:
CDC also makes for a great adult/emerger:
As you can see, these are incredibly simple flies - there really isn't the need for 'elbows and assholes' as one fly tier complained.
Dick Talleur has a really nice pattern for a midge adult I like. I think it is out of his advanced fly tying book. This is my chewed up version of it. His, as expected, look significantly better:
Bloodsucking little $#^&. We'll talk about their medical importance, how they relate to fly fishing, and perhaps, most importantly, about repellents and how to chose them!
I don't have any pics of mosquitoes - in part because they are so common I never really made taking a picture of one a priority. However, here is a nice one feeding - note how you can see the sheath surrounding the mouthparts bending back as the mouthparts are inserted into the flesh.
Other than that, all I have for you is the link to the Florida Extension sheet on efficacy of different repellents. Here you go:
http://mosquito.ifas.ufl.edu/Mosquito_Repellents.htm
Probably not your first topic of interest as you're driving to your 4th of July picnic, but they really are interesting. And fish like 'em. The fact that they suck your blood? Well, we all gotta make a living somehow, don't we?
Grasshoppers, Katydids and Crickets - can't beat 'em. We'll talk about imitations, as well as they importance in human culture and economics. I think you'll be amazed at all the diversity. And, we'll talk about why, at least my guess, as to why hoppers we fish with have red butts.
So, I had all sorts of plans to tie examples of all the flies I talked about in this episode ... but then, I went fishing. I knew you'd understand. I also figured there are plenty of resources on the net with these recipes so I'll just give you links to them. So, here goes:
Grasshoppers:
Here's a typical run of the mill grass hopper.
Note how well camouflaged it is. It is one of the band winged hoppers - as you can see from this overhead shot:
These guys are really adapted to live in dryer environments - like overgrazed pasture, sandy or dirt eroded areas, or, where I always see them - my dirt driveway. Of course, they don't feed on dirt, but they feed on vegetation near there, and when they are disturbed they preferentially land there to blend in.
But, as you know, hoppers come in all sorts of sizes and colors. Here is a green one.
Note the short wings - I suspect this is an immature. Never the less, my point is that not all grasshoppers have natural turkey quill wings, yellow bodies and red butts.
Speaking of which, here is a picture of Art Winnie's Michigan Hopper, tied as he ties it, with split red duck quill tails:
Tail: Red Duck Quill, tied in a ‘V’
Body: Yellow Chenille, tapered.
Wings: Mottled Turkey Wing, tied flat, down
over the body.
Hackle: Brown
Followed by one of the red legged grasshoppers (who, honestly, is a little less red after 40 years on a pin).
Grab some hoppers next time you are out and look at the legs - see if my hoppothesis makes sense (sorry, I couldn't resist).
Grouse Locusts or Pygmy Grasshoppers are tiny:
Note what looks like wings over the back of the hopper is actually an extension of the pronotum.
A better picture, showing relative scale is here:
In terms of patterns, one of my current favorites is Ried's Irresistible Hopper:
Which I like because it is simple, floats well, and is easily modifiable to what I want, color and size wise:
Body: Yellow Deer Hair, spun and clipped.
Wing: Dark Deer Hair, tied across the back,
extended well beyond the bend of the
hook. Crisscross the thread over the
front half of the wing to secure it to
the body.
Hackle: Grizzly & Ginger, mixed.
Joe's hopper is a classic:
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw/3198fotw.php
Which my favorite is a version of that which simply has a spun deer hair body - where I often leave out the ribbing and the tail.
And of course Whit's Hopper and Dave's Hopper.
If you are into foam hoppers, you gotta check out this site:
https://hopperfishing.wordpress.com/
Katydids
Here is your run of the mill katydid:
A little bleached out after 40 years, but then I've lost a bit of color during that time too...
Here's a live one, which is much more representative of the color:
Note on the first picture, the curved structure leaving the abdomen - that is a male, and those are the claspers used to hold onto the female. In the following picture, the structure is brown and thicker - that is the ovipositor, which on this species is curved. In contrast, look at this conehead grasshopper:
That ovipositor looks like it is designed to lop off the heads of medieval knights. But no, actually, just used to lay eggs.
As expected, katydids come in all sizes and shapes:
Tie what you see locally and, honestly, what is easy to cast. These big guys can be three inches long!
In terms of patterns, I just use hopper patterns and tie them with chartreuse bodies and green wings.
Crickets
Crickets also come in all sizes and shapes - we typically tie to imitate this standard field type cricket:
Although as you can see, they are not always black:
And sometimes they can be quite small:
A lot of folks just tie a dark version of a hopper pattern to match a cricket - think of the Letort Hopper vs. the Letort Cricket - which is exactly the same, just using black materials.
But I have to admit, I really love Davie McPhail's Davie's Cricket:
I love that fly.
But there are also lots of different types of crickets too - that may not be relevant for fly fishing, but you'll bump into them. For example, here is a tree cricket:
Which, if you weren't careful you'd almost mistake for a small katydid.
And a mole cricket. Note how the front legs have been modified for digging:
Alright - with that I'll leave it off. Hope you found this episode useful and I'll talk to you next time.
An episode all about the Hendrickson ... with, of course, digressions... including hatch charts, history, geography and patterns. Check out the blog for patterns and pics: http://anglersentomology.libsyn.com/
I don’t happen to have a good picture of a nymph … I although I know I have one in my collection … I just can’t seem to find it right now. Which, how I can misplace an insect in my collection … well, that’s a whole other conversation.
But here is an adult female Ephemerella subvaria – aka a Hendrickson.
Note the leading edge of the rear wing – how it takes a sharp backwards turn about 1/3 of the way up. That’s one good clue you are looking at a Hendrickson.
Here is a male – aka a Red Quill. Dig those turban eyes…
Ok, let’s talk imitations.
For the nymphs – I tie what are basically gold ribbed hairs ear – with whatever material I want to imitate the local color. In this case it is a combo of hare's mask and american opossum mask. I LOVE the translucence of American Opossum. It is definitely not used enough.
Here’s a version made of red squirrel. I use the back for the tail and body and lighter belly for the light spots. Note this is a bead head. I could argue that the bead is to represent the gas bubble under the exoskeleton that helps the nymph rise to the surface. In reality, the hook I pulled out of the hook box already had a bead on it from a previous fly tying session…
Here’s a nice pattern Selene tied from Mike Holt’s page of Kennebec River insects (http://www.maineflyfishing.com/bluedun/bigpicture.htm)
Hook: Mustad 94840, 10-12
Thread: Olive
Tails: Mallard flank fibers
Abdomen: Gray Brown fur
Ribbing: Brown Monocord
Thorax: Dark Gray-Brown fur blend
Wing Pads: Dark Brown Quill segment or poly yarn
Legs: Brown partridge tied divided
As I’ve said, I often tie emergers using whatever nymph pattern I like and then either adding a dubbing ball, a foam wing pad, parachute style or CDC.
Here's an example of a hare's ear parachute tied with that same American 'Possum.
For those who like specific or more detailed emerger patterns, here’s a nice one from Selene:
Where:
Trailing Shuck: Antron
Tail and body: Pheasant Tail
Rib: Gold Wire
Wing: CDC
Thorax: Hendrickson pink dubbing
For adults, same idea. Identify the colors you want to imitate, and then tie the pattern in multiple styles (flush fishing or high riding) for different conditions. Here’s an example using Flick’s pattern:
A standard Catskill Art Flick Hendrickson:
Mustad 94840, sizes 12-14 Thread: Tan Wings: Lemon Wood Duck or Dyed Mallard - upright and divided
Tail: Medium Blue Dun hackle fibers
Body: Pinkish fox fur - remove guard hairs
Hackle: Medium Blue Dun
And in contrast a Comparadun style:
I didn’t mention this in the podcast but there is another fly floating around out there (no pun intended) called the dark Hendrickson. It uses darker muskrat dubbing for the body and darker blue dun hackle. This just acknowledges the color variations you see with this critter.
Lastly, just to round this out, here is a rusty spinner style fly.
Hi Folks - an episode about various caddis families. Be sure to check out the blog post for this episode too - there are some of my favorite patterns as well as pics of some of these guys. http://anglersentomology.libsyn.com/
Allright – here is a blog post that cover both the episode about caddisflies and the episode about caddis families. I’m not going to have an imitation for every individual family, but more groups of families – broken down in the categories we’ve talked about. As usual, I’m sure there are other imitations out there – these are the ones I use and like – for that that is worth…
Before I go there, tho, I promised you a table of characteristics – the idea being if you can identify the family, you will then know info about how they hatch, etc. And remember, I’m sure somewhere there are exceptions to these rules. I’ve also added links to the pictures of these guys on BugGuide – so you can get a sense of what they look like. So, here it is:
| Family | Pupa/Hatch | Egg Laying | Back to surface | | Rhyacophilidae | Quick rise | Swim to bottom | Slow drift to surface | | Brachycentridae | Drift along bottom with quick rise | Daps on surface, or swims under | Nice spinner fall. | | Lepidostomatidae | On shore in damp areas or on water | Adults with nice drift on surface | | Leptoceridae | Eggs dapped on surface | | Limnephilidae | Crawl to land | Eggs laid above water. | | Odontoceridae | Fast rise to surface | Eggs dapped on surface | | Helicopsychidae | Crawl into water or near water | Long drift back to surface | | Phyrganeidae | Pupa crawls to land | | Glossosomatidae | Quick rise | Dives into water | | Hydropsychidae | Drift along bottom before rising | Swim to bottom | Drift back to surface | | Philopotamidae | Swims to surface/runs to shore |
Let’s start with Rhyacophilidae – or the free living caddis. The one everyone likes to imitate here is the green rockworm. In part because it is beautiful, but honestly also because it is common in trout streams, it is effective and fish eat them.
In terms of the larvae – they look like this. This particular guy is one of the ones that is dark on the top, and green on the bottom – as you can see from the first picture.
This guy was picked up at Grand Lake Stream...
Here is my usual imitation. I usually put a dark bead on the head. But the pattern is:
Body: twisted synthetic fiber, like crystal flash, twisted and wound.
Thorax – dubbing of color and choice – I usually use dark to imitate the scerotized thorax
Head – bead or thread.
Can’t get simpler than that.
That said, another one I like is a green bead caddis:
Again, another easy fly - tungsten bead followed by green beads.
OK, so let’s move onto the group of cased caddis. Where the first one we’ll talk about is Brachycentrus.
Here is a not so great picture of what the cases look like:
And here is the pattern I like from Tom Rosenbauers Orvis Fly Fishing Podcast:
Where, again, the pattern is pretty straightforward:
Body: several strands of different colored wire, wound up the body.
Thorax – Green or white dubbing depending on your naturals in the area
Head – black thread.
And here’s a supercool imitation of a Brachycentrus tied by my wife. I especially like the techniques she used in tying this – it is something I’ve never seen:
What’s interesting about this is the case – which is turkey quill, cut and split down the middle. The pith is then pressed in, forming a notch. The hook shank is placed in that notch, with a piece of quill on either side of the hook. Glued in. She then uses permanent marker to color the thread orange, adding black spots onto the orange thread. That, wrapped around the quill, gives the square Brachycentrus case. Cool huh? She then uses the turkey quill fibers, torn from the quill to give that little foot, as the legs, and then glass beads, green and black for the protruding abdomen and thorax/head.
So, while I clumped the case caddis families all together, there is tons of diversity in this group. Both in terms of the different types of caddisflies, but also in terms of the different styles of cases. Cases can be square, or round, made of stones, or twigs or even bits of vegetation.
So rather than say, “ok, for Limnephilidae I make a case like this” below I’ll just put some examples of the cased caddis imitations I tie and you can see what you have in your stream and use these imitations as an inspiration to tie or buy something similar.
Some folks think it is cheesy but I actually like this imitation. It is simply sand epoxied to a hook. I usually put down a base like thread, coat it with epoxy and then place it into a little petri dish of the sand of choice.
If you are an ‘attention to detail’ kind of guy, you can even gather sand from the stream where you fish and make your flies to match that local environment.
This is the Strawman – tied by Guides Choice Flies (a great place to buy flies, by the way)
https://www.facebook.com/Guides-Choice-Flies-1499855670045391/
It is fairly straight forward – just a deer hair body tied sparse and trimmed down. I have to admit, I’ve been tying bass bugs too long and I have a really hard time tying them sparse enough – but Justin did a nice job here. I think the idea is that the deers hair mimics the sticks etc. used by the caddis when building a case.
As I said, I’ve tied too many packed bass bugs to get out of that habit, so I finally decided if I can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. So I used (I’m sure someone else has done this, I just don’t remember what it is called) deer hair to mimic the pebble case. By mixing two different colors you get the mottled appearance to mimic that case:
Free Living Caddis
What may be the most important caddis to imitate is the free living caddis in the family Hydropsychidae. Here are some examples of the naturals with a zebra caddis first, and a nice green larvae following. I have to admit, most of the larvae I’ve seen around here are more of a cream to tan, but this is a nice green one.
Note the plates on the back of the thorax and the gills on the underside of the abdomen.
And here are some nice imitations from Selene:
Philopotamidae:
As I said in the podcast, I kind of have a soft spot for this family for some reason. The flies are pretty small, and there really isn’t much to the imitation, but here you go:
That’s really all you need – and it is made only with thread and head cement. Honestly, the head should be made more reddish to match the lightly colored sclerotized head/thorax, but I opted for black. This is about a size 18 or 20.
Pupa Imitations.
Again, not really a pupa but technically speaking a pharate adult, but in some ways that is just anal entomology talk. Here is LaFontaine’s Sparkle Pupa, tied by Justin Crouse, Guides Choice Flies:
LaFontaine explained that the little tail of antron there is supposed to imitate a trail of bubbles coming off the emerging pupa. I guess my feeling is that is optional…
And then, of course, there are my favorite soft hackles to imitate the rising pupa...
With that, I’ll sign off, I hope you found this useful…
Hi folks, Here are some links for this episode, including pictures of these pests, so you can recognize them.
Dermestid beetles. As I’ve mentioned, there are multiple species you need to worry about, here are some pictures of some of them:
This link has a nice picture of a larder beetle adult and larva. I’ve seen these a lot in our house, and sometimes in our materials, but they really aren’t the ones I’m most worried about (at least in my experience):
http://ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/larder-beetle
and here is a nice link showing several different species – as well as their immature stages:
http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7436.html
the black carpet beetle is our nemesis in this house.
And here is a nice link on clothes moths:
http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7435.html
which also has information about fumigation with carbon dioxide using dry ice – which is an interesting technique.
As promised, here is a link to the press release about the article on insects in our homes.
https://www.calacademy.org/press/releases/rich-bugs-revealed-scientists-say-homes-in-wealthier-neighborhoods-host-a-greater
I thought it was a nice article – kind of fun.
And finally, a really fun article about how the Field Museum in Chicago uses dermestid beetles to clean skeletons:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/museums/ct-flesh-eating-beetles-field-museum-20141027-column.html
And lastly, here are two articles about washing your materials:
http://globalflyfisher.com/tie-better/washing-your-materials
and
http://globalflyfisher.com/tie-better/cleaning-fly-tying-material
where I think I would disagree with the second article about microwaving to get rid of pests. Selene has tried that in particular, and did not have luck with that method.
Tie flies? Then you ought to be worried about dermestid beetles and clothes moths. This episode will discuss these guys, how to control them, and the pros and cons of the various solutions. We'll even do a diversion into how poisons work and 'natural' solutions. I hope you enjoy the program.
Hi folks - this is the first of a two parter on caddisflies. Today we'll talk about the group and their life history in general. We'll also talk about imitating the group in a simple way - and next episode we'll talk about the different families and imitating them in gory detail! I hope you enjoy...
Happy New Year Folks. To celebrate 2018 I'm giving you an episode all about black flies - that annoying scourge of the north, and ... in some tropical areas, transmitter of a horrible disease. Which, on the hopeful side, is one of those afflictions where we have seen success in our battle against it. And ... I should say, by the way, black fly larvae are eaten by trout...
Sorry, I don't have a lot of eye candy for this particular episode. I've tried to get a picture of an adult black fly while it was biting me, but honestly, they always seem to bite me in a spot that is non-conducive to one handed photos.
But I have a few pics of larvae:
Note the bulbous end, which is attached, to the substrate.
Selene posted a nice video of a black fly moving - so you can see the leach like method. They attach their front, then move their rear and re-attach. It is about half way down the page:
https://selenedumaine.com/anglers-entomology/
Next - check out his photo - all those black marks on my hand are black fly larvae. This is just from picking up a rock and what happened to stick to my hand. The larger spots are dozens of black fly larvae.
Yep, there is a reason why the black fly is the Maine state bird.
Well, my only last thing to post is a link to Jimmy Carter's Onchocerciasis program. Helping to control river blindness might be a nice way to start 2018.
https://www.cartercenter.org/health/river_blindness/
Hope you all have a wonderful 2018 and I'm looking forward to posting more episodes. Please keep the reviews coming and feel free to shoot me a question or two: anglersent@gmail.com
Ok, here are the notes and pics for Episode 17: Damelflies. We'll start with a pic of a damselfly nymph. Note the three gills off the end of the abdomen. Note how he's holding them up and out - I'm pretty sure that is because the oxygen level in the petri dish was getting low...
Here is an Ebony Jewelwing - this was taken up at Grand Lake Stream at Weatherby's. While a beautiful damselfly, I really don't tie many imitations to match this. I should, as I often see them around smaller trout streams in the woods, but more often i tie the bluets - which is the next picture.
So, this is a bluet - not sure what kind. They are another common group of damselflies. Yes, blue, but there are green ones too (not called greenets). These are mostly what I end up tying - and, as I said in the podcast, these are fantastic bass flies.
In terms of flies - here are the two simple nymph flies I tie and that I have good luck with. First is the marabou version followed by the floss version. I tie them in tan, brown, olive and black. It is very simple - tie in at the tail, wrap the body, overwrap with gold wire and fold back the stub to make a wing case:
Some folks think tying on large eyes (e.g., melted monofilament) is important - it does look a little more like the nymph, but I usually don't bother.
In terms of adult damselflies, this is probably my easiest imitation - just a strip of foam - tied over a dubbing and hackle body with saddle hackles as wing:
When I'm feeling more artistic, I use the furled synthetic hair to tie the abdomen and use a deer hair body:
and, just because i could and because I complained about not tying them earlier in the post, here is an Ebony Jewelwing imitation - where the abdomen is a piece of metallic green mylar tubing which I sealed on the end with Crazy Glue. The wings are, again, saddle hackle, this time black, from our recently harvested rooster, Sam. Which, should you opt to tie this yourself, you don't need Sam's hackles, or even black hackles from a rooster named Sam...
Today's episode will cover the damselflies. This will act as part 2 for episode 2, where we talked about the close cousin of damselflies, the dragonflies. . While there will be a little review from Episode 2, we'll also cover their cool mating strategies, courtship, and most importantly, the tricks and tools for imitating them.
I don't have a lot, but here are a few pics of cress bugs, and a few patterns. Including Selene's "I-Selene-Opod".
Here's a close up pic of a cress bug I collected on the Kenenbec River. What you can't tell from the pic is that this is a young critter- this pic is pretty significantly magnified.
Note the head is pointing up, so note the paired antennae on the head. On the other end, note the last segment - which is actual several segments fused to form a pleotelson And then note at the very end the branched structure coming off (there should be two, but one has been broken off). That structure is called uropods. And structurally, they are equivalent of the fans you see on either side of a crayfish or lobster tail. More importantly, however, note how the legs are consistent from front to back - which is how they got their name - Iso = equal; Pod = leg.
This picture shows an isopod crawling around in my tank. I added this picture because it shows how isopods are flattened. The technical term that is used is "dorsoventrally" - where dorsal refers to the back and ventral refers to the front or belly side. If you'd rather be understood, you can simply say it looks like someone stepped on them.
I was going to add some pictures of flies - such as Schenk's Cress Bug, but after I took a few hurried pics on my vice and they were so incredibly horrible, I figured links to patterns would probably be more useful to you.
So here are a few:
Here's Shenk's Cress Bug - can't get much easier than this:
(http://www.flytierspage.com/eshenk/shenk_cress_bug.htm)
I like this one from Fly Fisher's Paradise: (http://www.flyfishersparadise.com/fly-tying/cress-bug)
I also like this one from Don Bastian:
https://donbastianwetflies.com/2012/05/03/cress-bug/
And here's a pic of Selene's I-Selene-Opod - which I really like as it is a new style of tying a cress bug, which I've never seen before, and it uses materials in a creative way.
Here is her description of how she ties it:
"Striving to keep the flat body I dub on Quick descent dubbing then flatten it to the hook with pliers and rewrap a bit with thread to keep it in place.
I latch on the brown scud back then the gold estaz.
Now, palmer on the estaz about four turns to get to the eye of the fly and tie it off. The palmering leaves what looks like segments on the back of the final fly to make for realism.
Then pull the scud back over the fly and tie off at the eye. You could singe the top of the fly with a flame to make the profile of the fly as flat as possible before bringing the scub back over the top.
That is the finished fly. Simple. It is flatter than most other patterns, segmented, and has buggy legs as well as being weighted from the dubbing."
In this episode we're going to talk about Isopods - the group in which Cress bugs reside. Cress bugs are the only guys that are really relevant for fly fishing, but the group as a whole is fascinating. I mean really, who can resist talking about a critter known as the "Tongue Eating Louse"?!
Here you go folks - all about ants. All the fascinating diversity and complexity that we boil down to two bumps on a hook. Hope you enjoy and don't forget to check out the blog: http://anglersentomology.libsyn.com/
Well, I don't have a lot of pics of ants. I mean, they are so ubiquitous that one never really gets excited and says, "oooh, and ant! Let me get a picture of that!".
As promised, however, I do have a picture of ants tending aphids - which I got while up around Grand Lake Stream in Maine:
More of interest, I think, are the resources I can point you to should you be interested in poking around more.
Here is Holldobler's and Wilson's epic work, the Ants:
https://www.amazon.com/Ants-Bert-Holldobler/dp/0674040759/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1506765560&sr=1-1&keywords=ants+wilson
Everything you could want to know about ant is in this book. Well, maybe not everything, but darn close.
I have not read this work, but from what I understand Deborah Gordon's work is excellent. I've heard it is an interesting contrast to Wilson's work.
https://www.amazon.com/Ants-At-Work-Society-Organized/dp/1451665709/ref=sr_1_23?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1506765661&sr=1-23&keywords=ants
If you live in New England, and really want to get into ants, this is the book to have:
https://www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-Ants-New-England/dp/0300169302/ref=sr_1_74?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1506765812&sr=1-74&keywords=ants
I know there are other books out there for other regions, so poke around - you'll likely be able to find a good reference book for ants in your area.
But mostly I wanted to give you a smattering here of the incredible amount of diversity and volume of ant research that is going on. I record these episode about a month in advance. Here is a list of current ant research that I just happened to come across over the last month:
A great little article about a medical condition, it's link to ants, and the role of indigenous cultures in knowledge:
https://entomologytoday.org/2017/09/29/the-story-of-the-little-fire-ant-and-why-modern-medicine-can-learn-from-indigenous-cultures/
A really cool article about how ants interact with each other:
https://phys.org/news/2017-09-ant-species-coexist-territory.html?utm_source=nwletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-nwletter
an article about discovering 74 new species of ants from Australia. 74!!!
pub_releases/2017-09/pp-haa092117.php
An article about mutualism between plants and ants -
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-09/uot-ssm091817.php
A cool article about a really wierd fossil ant:
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2146821-meet-the-vampire-ant-from-hell-with-huge-jaws-and-a-metal-horn
A lastly great article about "lazy" ants - kind of an interesting counterbalance to all the anthropomorphic descriptions of ants as industrious:
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-09/uoa-lam090817.php
All of this I just came across over the last month. Pretty impressive and interesting.
So, for the notes for this episode I'm going to stray a little farther afield from the actual podcast and give visual examples of how insects use color. Some of these are relevant for aquatic insects / trout fishing and some really aren't. But they are cool, so...
Probably the simplest and most intuitive use of color is camouflage. The following pic is of a cone headed katydid - which is green. Like the plants it hangs out on.
Katydids are found around streams just as much as grasshoppers (if not more so), so I've always been surprised that there aren't more katydid imitations (or green grasshopper imitation). I've fished 'em. Had luck with them, but I can't say I've compared them enough to grasshopper imitations to say that one worked better than another in any kind of situation.
Another example of that, which might be more relevant is this mayfly nymph- a Mccaffertium - which is mottled and brown like the bottom of a stream. Same idea, just not as dramatic as the katydid.
An interesting variant of that is what I've heard called "flash and dazzle" coloration. Where normally they are camouflaged - note the front wings. But when they are disturbed by a predator, the brightly colored hind wing becomes visible - with a big surprising flash.
The predator then focuses on the bright color as the insect escapes. When it lands, however, the focus point vanishes and the insect will move a bit from where it landed. The predator will focus on the landing spot and miss their meal. The same idea is practiced by cotton tail rabbit and white tailed deer.
In this picture, to the left is a common North American grasshopper - I don't know the name. And to the right is an example of a fairly common group of moths, called the underwing or Catocola moths.
In the episode, we talked about Mullerian mimicry. Below is an example of that - where multiple different species share warning coloration (such as yellow or red or orange on black). So, once you get stung once, you associate that color with danger. Works for birds as well as people. Below are all different species of genus Bombus - or bumble bees.
Batesian mimicry is when something that is harmless mimics this warning coloration. I have several examples below. First are a two different species of hawk moths - which mimic bumblebees both in looks and behavior.
While below are two robber flies which also mimic bumblebees (an example of which is in between them). The robber flies (Family Asilidae) are predatory - and use the mimicry both, I suspect, for protection, but also to approach and catch pollinating insects on the flowers where it hunts.
My favorite example, however, is the clearwing moths - which mimic wasps. Check out this picture and tell me which one is the moth.
All right, maybe it isn't that hard - it's the one in the middle. Still, I'm really impressed with these moths.
Interestingly, a scientific article just came out with a newly discovered clearwing moth from Malaysia. Here is the press release, which includes a video of the critter:
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-09/pp-rfo090517.php
On the podcast I also mentioned irridescence. Which you can see here. I don't have a lot of examples of this in my collection because I've lost my beetles and because most examples of this are in tropical insects. But here you can see it in this tiger moth (Family Arctiidae) that I caught in Florida.
Note how you see the blue on the abdomen and one wing. It is on the other wing as well, you just need to change the perspective of your view (of the real insect) to see it.
Lastly, just for grins, in case you see on in your rambles. Here is a golden rod spider (on a copper pot rim, he came in with garden produce). They are in a group of spiders known as "crab spiders" - Family Thomisidae. I mentioned them because they have the ability to change color to match their background -from yellow to white and back again.
Lastly, this is a bit of a stretch linking it to this episode, but also just recently, an article came out discussing the visual acuity of insect sight.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-09/uos-ics090117.php
So, there you go. Hope you enjoyed the episode.
Yep, a whole episode just about color. This may be the most interesting episode I've recorded - we'll talk about how color is produced, how we (and fish) perceive it, and how insects use it. I've added pics to the blog post - that will show examples of what I'm talking about: http://anglersentomology.libsyn.com/
Hi folks, here is the third and last installment on our "how to" series on collecting insects. This time we'll focus on the actual deed - tools and techniques for finding and getting insects from the field to your home to study. This is an episode where the blog post will be especially helpful - as it shows pictures and links of the various tools I discuss. It can be found here: http://anglersentomology.libsyn.com/. I hope you enjoy the program!
Hi folks,
Here is a post describing and providing pictures for some of the gear I describe in the collecting insects episode. As usual, shoot me any questions if you have any...at Anglersent@gmail.com
Here’s a pic of my “pocket” collecting gear. Pretty simple. A strainer, some vials and forceps. I actually have it strapped onto my wader belt usually. It’s in an old epi-pen container – I used to be allergic to honey bees… Note my treasured Grandfather's "ear" forceps. Those are close to 100 years old now, and in my opinion, they are perfect.
The other thing I keep in my vest – which I mention later in the podcast and recently bought is a collapsing net. With a twist the net ring folds on itself and it is nice and small. The handle is small and you can buy extensions for it, but for most of what you are doing while fishing the short handle is enough. This is primarily designed for flying insects – so when mayflies, for example, are coming off the water, I use this. If something is in the water I use the strainer.
Forceps – I love ‘em.
Here is a pic of a series of forceps: Across the top are vial forceps, left to right are, new ear forceps, watchmakers forceps, both bent tip and straight, and featherweight forceps.
Note the difference between the tips of tweezers and forceps. See how nice my grandpa’s forceps come together in parallel planes?
Here’s a link to Widget Supply – where you can get cheap forceps. You are not as likely to get parallel jaws at this source.
And, of course, my favorite source for entomological supplies, bioquip. Where you can get featherweight forceps - for which parallel jaws aren't that important because the jaws flex around the specimen.
As I mention in the episode, wing burners can make a decent substitute for featherweight forceps : compare these:
The next tool that is useful is a seine – here is picture of mine – fairly straightforward – just some old tent poles which fold together and window screen with pockets sewed into the edges. I like it because it folds up into a relatively small package. The disadvantage is that as it is currently designed the netting can fall off the bottom of the poles. Duct tape will solve that, but for seines with wooden poles thumbtacks are also used. My seine rolled up and ready to fit in my collecting vest:
Rolled out and ready to use:
And in use:
Since I recorded the podcast I found a cool site which lists ways in which to build one person seines. Pretty clever ideas:
http://www.dep.wv.gov/WWE/getinvolved/sos/Documents/SOSKit/HomemadeEquipment.pdf
We then move to nets. First – here is a picture of a commercial bioquip net, so you can see how it is built – this is their standard student aerial net. Note the grooves in the net handle where the net legs fit into the handle.
So, the one I built is similar – yet holds different nets for different conditions. As you can see, the strainer fits at the end of the net. This is just a standard wire kitchen strainer where I cut out the handle and reshaped the wire to fit into the net.
You could, of course, just duct tape it, but my goal was to build something with interchangeable nets.
I also built an aquatic net – by buying steel rod (stiffer than wire), forming it into a triangle shape and then attaching it higher up on the handle – so the end of the handle supports the rim of the net so it bends less when dragged on the bottom of the stream.
The net is relatively straightforward – it is typically a muslin triangular walls with a netting base. Usually the netting is set partially up the walls. I’m not quite sure why, but all of this style of net I’ve seen built this way.
There are other simple options as well – as I mentioned I use a tea strainer for picking up critters drifting by in the stream – but other use aquarium nets
I mentioned using a garden rake to drag up material from the bottom of a stream or pond. This is the kind of rake I’m talking about – the ones with the stiff prongs. It acts basically like a grappling hook.
Here is my aquatic beetle trap – which I have yet to use! I made some modifications to the design – I flipped the peanut jar over and put the funnel on the bottom of the jar rather than the lid end –so once insects collect in the jar all I have to do is unscrew the lid and dump them out. I’m also going to make a version where I increase the size of the funnel so I can trap larger beetles as well. I’ll post a separate blog when I use it and let you know how it works.
Here is my aspirator. Again, this was built from things I had laying around my lab bench – but then, I’ll admit, I think I probably have more random lab equipment laying around than most. What it does NOT have is a filter so I’m not inhaling dust and fungal spores. On my list to add.
And here’s the link I promised on the origin of the pooter:
https://simonleather.wordpress.com/2014/06/26/entomological-classics-the-pooter-or-insect-aspirator/
Ok, let’s talk about nets:
There are various plans and tools for modifying landing nets such as:
Here is a landing net that actually can double as a net – specifically for straining insects off of the surface of the water.
Or you can add a paint strainer to a landing net. Cool idea, but I’m not a big fan of landing nets.
http://www.ginkandgasoline.com/fly-fishing-tips-technique/bug-sampling-courtesy-of-home-depot/
I've already shown you pics of my standard bioquip butterfly net and my pocket net.
Here is my UV light set up. As I mentioned in the podcast, it is two PVC pipes, connected to a piece of conduit with bedsheet stretched in between.
Hang a UV Fluorescent light on it and you are good to go.
For power you can use an inverter plugged into the car – here is my inverter from the 1970s - I remember I was a kid and it cost me a gazillion dollars. You can buy an equivalent one on amazon for about $20.
Or you can buy one of those portable generators – that is basically a big battery with an inverter built in. Like this:
These are nifty in that they also have a compressor that you can use to pump up your float tube.
Here is my picture of my ethyl acetate killing jar – which I have to admit – I rarely use. For most of my collecting now a days I’m either just popping them in alcohol or close enough home so I pop them in the freezer. Anyway – note the layer of plaster on the bottom – in which you add the ethyl acetate.
If you kill them and can’t get to them right away you need to relax them. I mentioned a couple of techniques on the podcast, including dipping them in boiling water, but here is an example of a relaxing jar. This is an old museum relaxing jar, so it is large and fancy – but you can get the idea of an area where the water is kept vs. a ledge to hold the insects while they are relaxed.
There you go – lot’s of gory details on how to go out and collect insects. Have fun collecting insects and … honestly, collecting the gear to collect insects! A lot of the links on the building an insect collection episode also have links and info for how to build some of this gear. So, it is worth poking around on the internet!
Hi folks - here are some pics and notes that go along with episode 12.
Firstly, and most importantly, here is a link to my wife's interview on the pocast, The Liars Club. My wife ties flies in the Carrie Steven's style - for those of you who don't know, Carrie Stevens invented a style of fly in the Rangeley, Maine area which imitated smelt - the Grey Ghost is her most famous fly. Selene ties in that style, including by tying without a vice, in her hands. You can also see her flies on her website - Selenedumaine.com.
So, for this episode, I just have a few example pictures I'd like to show you...
to start with, here is a nice picture of a male hendrickson, with it's long front legs and turban eyes. This guy has just hatched from a dun to a spinner - you can see the shed skin right behind him:
Here's an example of the fork gilled mayflies, or prong gilled mayflies. Note the more cylindrical shape and the eyes on the side that is typical of a crawler mayfly.
There are two genera there - the Paraleptophlebia:
And the Leptophlebia:
And lastly, I wanted to show you an example of a mayfly nymph with those tergulae - or operculate gills. This guy is a Caenidae:
Today we'll talk about the crawler mayflies - critters which include such important guys as the hendrickson, some of the sulphurs and Tricos. This is our last podcast on the mayflies! You can find some pics showing what I describe on my blog posts. Also, check out the cool interview of my wife - talking about the history of fly tying in Maine, and her tying streamers in the traditional Carrie Stevens style.
So, Selene and I were walking out to lunch in downtown Augusta the other day when we saw a nice male Dobsonfly. They fall into the category of "charismatic megafauna" (almost) and it struck me as a good time to add some pics so you could know what we were talking about in Episode 5.
Interestingly, Episode 5 has consistently been the least downloaded episode - probably because no one knows what Megaloptera is! But they are cool - as you can see from the pics.
Here's the guy we collected at lunch:
Here's a picture that shows the scale:
We talk about those jaws in the podcast - but while scary looking they are actually not too effective. This guy waved it around but I actually couldn't get him to pinch me.
In contrast the females have short stout muscular jaws, which can, in fact, give you one heck of a pinch. Here is a close up of one specimen from my collection (unfortunately, she has lost her antennae, which is why she looks a little funny):
As I discussed in the podcast, the larvae are often called Hellgrammites - and they too, can give you a heck of a pinch. They are the top insect predators of the trout stream - gobbling up whatever they can, stoneflies, mayflies and the occasional angler. Here is a top down pic, which, while the colors are washed out, it gives you a sense of the structures on these guys:
A better pic is from this fellow, who lived in my tank on my lab desk for awhile. I like these pictures because you can see the clear color contrast between the tan leathery abdomen and the shiny chitinous thorax and head.
And:
Closely related to dobsonflies are fishflies (and those larvae may be fishfly larvae - I didn't bother to count the filaments on the abdomen!). The adults (and larvae) look generally like dobsonflies but the adults don't have the serious mandibles and are generally smaller. They also have combed antennae rather than the filamentous antennae of dobsonflies.
and without spread wings:
There is are also a few species found on the east coast that look very different than this typical grey color. These guys are in genus Nigronia and they look like this:
To give you a sense of scale:
Lastly, but not leastly, are the alderflies. These guys fall within the same order (Megaloptera) but are smaller and are often mistaken for caddisflies on the wing. The easiest way to distinguish between the two is that the alderflies have membranous (rather than hairy) wings, and have a broad thorax behind the head - giving them a football player kind of look.
Anyway- that's Order Megaloptera. Hope you found this useful.
For those of you interested in delving into entomology, here is an episode on how to develop an insect collection. We'll be talking about all sorts of insects and techniques - both those specific to trout fishing insects, but others as well. There are tons of links and pictures on the blog post for this episode, which you can find here: http://anglersentomology.libsyn.com/
Hi folks, here are some notes and resources that may be helpful for Episode 11: How to Start an Insect Collection
To start with we talked about using a phone to take pictures of insects – this is a great way to record what you see in the field and we all have a camera with us now a days. Here is a nice blog / tutorial on using cell phone cameras – with their pros and cons:
https://dragonflywoman.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/cell-phone-photography-101-for-web1.pdf
There are lots of summaries of how to make an insect collection – some are more complicated than others – here are some nice two pages summaries:
http://lsuinsects.org/DIY_Insect_Collection.pdf
Here is a nice one specifically about preserving insects – which is our subject today.
https://www.nps.gov/museum/publications/conserveogram/11-08.pdf
Here is a nice one from a college course: http://entocourses.tamu.edu/ento301/Handouts/Collection_guide_2015.pdf
A great resource in great detail:
https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/80420580/CollectingandPreservingInsectsandMites/collpres.pdf
Ok, so in terms of gear – you’ll need some gear to set up an insect collection. My favorite source is Bioquip. http://www.bioquip.com/ You can buy all the gear you want or need from this company –they are great. They do ship internationally. That said here are some international sources as well:
http://www.insectnet.eu/ (Paradox Company, in Poland)
http://www.entosupplies.com.au/ (Australia)
http://www.watdon.co.uk/ (UK)
https://www.angleps.com/index.php (UK)
Another wonderful supplier is American Science and Surplus - https://www.sciplus.com/ which not only has great deals but has excellent copy writing. It is a blast seeing how they try to convince you that you really need this surplus something or other…
I mentioned on the podcast that some of the tools and gear you need can be made. Here are plans for making your own spreading boards.
Making spreading boards
https://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/ythfacts/4h/unit2/hotmsb.htm
https://extension.entm.purdue.edu/401Book/default.php?page=spreading_board
Here is what my pinning blocks look like. The wooden one I made … 35 years ago – the plastic one I bought from Bioquip.
Here are plans for making pinning blocks
https://extension.entm.purdue.edu/401Book/default.php?page=pinning_block
https://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/ythfacts/4h/unit2/hotm&upb.htm
And this link on “how to make an insect collection, includes directions for building a drawer.
https://www.uaex.edu/publications/PDF/MP-83.pdf
One the podcast I mentioned preserving insects in hand sanitizer. Here is a cool tutorial on how to do that.
https://thedragonflywoman.com/tag/tutorials/
In terms of vial storage, there are lots of options, including some DIY ones.
Here is what I mean by ammo boxes:
And this is what I mean by a reloading block:
But you can also buy or build vial racks. Here are some links for that:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Simple-test-tube-rack/
http://www.google.com/url?q=http://baliga.systemsbiology.net/drupal/education/sites/baliga.systemsbiology.net.drupal.education/files/Making%2520Test%2520Tube%2520racks.docx&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwjUhLXK8cbSAhXC6iYKHQ6kBw84ChAWCCEwAg&usg=AFQjCNF9aOL46ltWXClDqfh-vF9lqWQ-Nw
Lastly I mentioned embedding specimens in resin. There is a link to the company that makes the product I use – Castin Craft https://www.eti-usa.com/clear-polyester-casting-resin-with-catalyst You can get it on amazon and I’m sure there are other products and sources out there.
There you go – I hope you find all that useful and entertaining…
As promised, here is a link to the commencement address by Richard Feinman: http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/3043/1/CargoCult.pdf. Thinking about what science actually is, is a subject near and dear to me. My graduate work was in ‘uncertainty analysis’ – as it applies to toxicology and many of the jobs I’ve held involved critiquing publications. That said, there is being a critical thinker and then there is hubris and self deception. Choosing your sources and keeping track of the limits of your knowledge is critical too, especially in our times of ‘fake news’ and ‘alternative facts’. To be clear, I’m no moronic climate change denier or dim witted Neaderthalish creationist. (Sorry, not fair to Neanderthals).
Anyway – I thought I’d throw up a few pics of clinging, or flat headed nymphs so you could see what I’m talking about:
Here is a young Epeorus. Note the two tails, the lack of wing buds (it is young) and the broader head than body. Also note the position of the eyes – pointing up rather than to the sides of the head.
This guy is a Maccaffertium as per bugguide.net – again, notice the broader head than shoulders (thorax) and body (abdomen). Eyes on top of the head. Also note the broad crab like legs.
Lastly, here is a link to that clinger pattern from Gink and Gasoline. Should be fun to try:
http://www.ginkandgasoline.com/gink-gasoline-fly-patterns/flathead-mayfly-nymphs-rule-2/
In Episode 10 we'll tackle the Clingers - which include the March Brown and the Quill Gordon, among others. We'll also have a few diversions - to talk about slippery rocks and science - how we claim to know what we think we know. Regarding the latter - here is the link to the commencement address by Richard Feinman. http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/3043/1/CargoCult.pdf Also, if you want to see some pics of these critters, I've added some text to the blog page on this subject: http://anglersentomology.libsyn.com/ Enjoy!
We will continue with our overview of the mayflies by looking at the minnow like mayflies. We'll talk about their complicated naming, migration of mayflies, pronunciation as well as the blue winged olives, the grey drake and the leadwinged coachman. Enjoy.
ME, Readfield
Kennebec County
Beaver Brook
38 ◦F Air Temp
One of the nice things about collecting aquatic insects is that you can collect in the middle of winter. You can also collect terrestrial insects if you know where to look, but aquatic insects are easy – they are in the water. Even though we have a pretty decent layer of snow on the ground the air temperature was warm and we chose to explore a little creek near us – Beaver Brook.
As I said, the temperature was warm – warm enough so that the winter stoneflies were hatching. This one I believe is in family Capniidae – at least I caught a similar one the week before and keyed it out to that family.
We’ve been doing a lot of our collecting recently with a small seine we made out of old tent poles and window screen. We then place what we find in a small lidded storage container (like a Tupperware) where we painted the bottom white, so we can see the contrast of the insects. We also pick up stones and pick off critters that catch our attention. In this particular creek the numbers were a little thin, but we found some good specimens.
There were plenty blackfly larvae – all these specks on my hand in this picture are blackfly larvae that came off a rock that I was holding. Yep, we’ll be losing some weight via blood loss when these guys all hatch this spring…
We found three nice fishfly larvae – subfamily Chauliodinae. They look a lot like hellgrammites, but don’t have the gills under each abdominal filament. These guys are active predators and had hefty jaws that would grab the forceps when I was picking them up.
In terms of mayflies – we found a nice example of someone in family Paraleptophebia. These are “crawler” type mayflies – and are identifiable by their cylindrical body shape, and in these guys, their nice long antennae. The real give away, however, are their forked gills – indeed these are known as the fork gilled mayflies. In this family in particular, they have long filamentous extensions on the gills that you can see in this picture.
Altho not an insect, we did catch a few planarians. Planarians are flatworms – they glide along a surface and they have a tube like mouth at the bottom of their body which they use to collect food. Interestingly their digestive system is pretty primitive – they only have one opening so they eat and poop out of the same hole (yet one more reason to be happy you are not a flatworm). The food is distributed throughout their body by branches of their digestive system that reaches all the corners. This can be seen easily in this picture as the dark pattern on the planarian. Planaria are also famous for their powers of regeneration. You can cut a planarian in half and the two halves will regenerate forming two new planarian. Nice, but not nice enough to make up for the fact that you have to poop and eat out of the same hole. On some of these pictures you can also see the “eyespots” that are light sensitive organs.
It was a nice trip – short, nothing earth shattering, but a wonderful way to get out in the off season and poke around in a stream.
Holy Frozen Canoli it was cold out. I mean, sure, this is Maine in the winter, but standing in the only non-frozen stream we could find when it was minus 1 degree Fahrenheit? What – were we nuts? Selene certainly has her opinion on that, but I’ll let you answer that for yourself. We were in this frozen predicament because this was the weekend Selene and I went to the Western Maine Fly Fishing Expo – hosted by Mollyockett Trout Unlimited Chapter.
The idea was that Selene and I would present at the show – showing some of the aquatic insects that I’ve been talking about in the podcast, promote the podcast, and Selene would show her cool fly patterns and take orders for flies. We would also have live trout stream insects and Selene would talk about using materials to imitate those insects – both in structure and in movement. And that went well – folks really seemed to enjoy our schtick.
The weekend began heading up the day before and staying at the Bethel Inn a beautiful old historic resort that we could only afford because we won a free night at last year’s show. We had a wonderful romantic dinner in the car at our favorite roadside BBQ trailer and pretty much went straight to bed, knowing that we would be getting up early to collect insects for the show the next morning.
We got up the next morning and packed up. As we loaded up our overnight luggage in the car, we commented on how it seemed a little colder than usual. Our fabulous Volvo, which we’ve affectionately named “Volvomort” helpfully told us it was -1 degree F (-18 Degree C). We had noticed the day before that most of the rivers and streams we passed on the way up were frozen. We were surprised because all the rivers and streams in Central Maine (only a few hours away, but considerably lower in elevation) were open. I now realize we live in Maine’s “Banana Belt”.
Selene remembered one location that had open water, and me, with my hazy memory thought I knew the location to which she was referring. We drove to Bear Brook, parked, and put on our waders. It was so cold that I needed to help Selene, with her frozen fingers, navigate the zippers on her wader boots. By the time we were done getting dressed, we decided it might be pleasant to sit in the car for a few minutes with the heater blasting before we were to try venturing out again…
After thawing out, we did go back out and what is that line? “Foolishness is the better part of valor”? We went over to the stream and I pointed out the 3’x5’ patch of open water that I could see and that I thought Selene was referring to. The open water was upstream a bit and we recently had a pretty hefty blizzard come through so there was a good 2’ of snow on the ground between the open water and us. We had no idea how deep the ice was on the stream, nor did we know how deep the water was under the ice. Images of Jack London’s story, “To Build a Fire” flashed through our minds. After some rather pointed discussion, we decided to try the stream that Selene was originally referring to, which had a little more open water.
We hopped back into the gloriously warm car and down the road a few more miles to Meadow Brook, in Hannover, Maine. That water was open right by the bridge. We took a deep breath and climbed through the snow down into the water. Which was cold.
We were smart enough to make sure that we did not get our hands wet, but it was even so, quite, quite cold. We took out our seine, did some sampling and caught some good specimens. One of the things I like about entomology (I obviously like a lot about entomology) is the fact that you can do it year round. The insects we care about in the summer are there during the winter – and getting out and into a stream in the winter is a wonderful way to quench your winter fly fishing desires. Well, when it is above zero at least.
We got some good specimens. Which, amazingly, survived the trauma of immediately being flash frozen when we took the seine out of the water. We caught some nice insects – some nice crawler nymphs – Family Heptageniidae – probably Genus Mccaffertium, some crawler nymphs, in Family Ephemerellidae, a nice beetle larva (which I neglected to get a picture of) and some blackfly larvae and midge larvae.
Selene took some pictures, and tried to take some videos, but by that time she was so frozen she really couldn’t hold the camera very steady. After a rather brief collecting trip, we climbed up the snow covered bank and back into the car. We cranked on the heat and Selene held her frozen hands in front of the heaters – which … was not the smartest idea – Selene had very cold hands and warming them up too quickly made them very, very painful. I was in pretty good shape because, well, ummm…. I have a little more of an insulating layer around me.
Selene’s comment on the effort was that it was worthwhile in that we tested our limits and determined that we had exceeded those limits. We now have new limits at a higher temperature.
But survive we did and we made it back to the show to demonstrate our finds. Which, folks really seemed to enjoy. Lots of people stopped by – we had some wonderful discussions and Selene got some fly orders.
Scott Stone, the organizer of the show, was very gracious and helpful, and is even interested in having Selene and I on his radio show and podcast, the Liars Club.
It was also wonderful to see and talk to all of Selene’s old friends – from Grant’s Kennebago Camps, the Outdoor Sporting Heritage Museum, A. L. Poland Studios, Chandler Pond Outfitters and others. Western Maine is a glorious place – even when it is below zero. It was, as always, a fun show, wonderful to meet new people and talk to old friends. The fly fishing community is just that – a wonderful community.
Today I thought I’d write a bit about my insect collection. This isn’t really a “how to” post, mostly just some musings about my collection. I’m very proud of my collection, because after a long and rather involved history it has come back into my possession.
The collection currently consists of two museum cabinets of 12 drawers each, only of pinned adult insects. Originally I had another cabinet as well and a large collection of immature insects and spiders preserved in alcohol. Unfortunately, those specimens did not survive the ravages of time. Most of the collection dates from my work during my youth through college, covering a time from roughly 1975 to 1985. My interest at that time was primarily Order Lepidoptera – the butterflies and moths. I also collected other insects, but by far the majority was Lepidoptera. I also spent a lot of time collecting and studying the immature stages – I had a very nice collection of Lepidoptera larvae stored in alcohol.
Ironically, even though I studied insects, I had a phobia about spiders. To try to overcome that phobia I studied and worked with spiders. I had a nice spider collection – including some very nice specimens of Latrodectus mactans – the Southern Black Widow – one of which I actually caught climbing up the shirt of my father while we were backpacking in the Ozark Mountains.
Also in that collection was Morgan LeFay – a Mexican Red-Kneed Tarantula that I had as a pet for some years. Again, this was an attempt to address my spider phobia. Morgan lived in an aquarium, and had a toilet paper tube burrow in which she lived. She would spin a loose web outside the burrow and wait for unsuspecting prey. The typical feeding scenario would involve dumping a bunch of crickets into the cage and Morgan would gobble them up over time. The crickets would wander around until one came within range of Morgan. Faster than you could possibly imagine, this huge tarantula would launch herself out of her burrow, grab the hapless cricket and bounce backwards back into the burrow. You could see the other crickets say, “Hey, where did Frank go? Wasn’t he just here? Huh, that’s odd...” and resume their oblivious cricket business.
On some nights Morgan would come out of her burrow and crawl all over the inside walls of the glass aquarium – presumably to find a way out and hunt. This was an activity which was not conducive to sleep and considerably worsened my spider phobia. Tarantulas are actually not true spiders, but a closely related organism. The distinctive characteristic is the way in which the chelicerae – or jaws and fangs are positioned – in tarantulas they work forward while in spiders they work side to side. Morgan’s fangs, by the way, were about the size of domestic cat canine teeth. And sometimes she would “yawn” – stretching them out to their full glory. Yes, this did not particularly help my spider phobia.
Also lost to time was my drawer of beetles – a loss I particularly regret as I had some nice specimens of aquatic beetles that would have been of use for my podcast. Beetles are a great subject for insect collecting – as they are diverse, complicated, and they are easy to collect and preserve. While I regret the loss, it is also the case that it will be fun to re-create that part of the collection. I have hopes that my step son, who is extremely interested in this collection, will develop his interest and help me out with that.
But enough of what I’ve lost – the fact is, I’ve regained about ½ of my collection. Most of which are the Lepidoptera – in which there are some pretty interesting specimens.
One of the more interesting is Papilio jonae – a type of swallowtail that was discovered by my mentor and named after his wife, Joan. My mentor really developed and professionalized my interest in entomology. He was a very mild mannered post office worker named J.R. Heitzman. I always knew and referred to him as Mr. Heitzman – I have no idea what the “JR” stood for. He and I used to go on weekend long collecting trips all throughout Missouri. Often these would involve night long expeditions with blacklights in which he would tell me hysterical stories of his other collecting trips. He had a huge collection and was a very well known entomologist and expert in Missouri Lepidoptera. I have very fond memories of my times on those collecting trips.
Anyway, Papilio jonae or the Ozark Swallowtail looks almost identical to the Black Swallowtail. The larvae feed on different plants but it was the behavior of the adult that clued Mr. Heitzman into the fact that he may have a different species. What I remember was that he noticed that certain populations of Black Swallowtails, when disturbed in a field, would consistently fly into the woods rather than stay in the field. He collected and studied those butterflies and found that they belonged to a different species. This was later confirmed with DNA analysis.
Another interesting critter in my collection is Duke’s Skipper – or Euphyes dukesi. This is a relatively rare type of skipper – there are three separate populations in the US/Canada which are not connected. As a caterpillar they feed on sedges. What is interesting about my specimens though, is that Leland Martin showed me the spot to collect them – namely in the special preserve that he helped establish in Findley State Park in Ohio. If it is a special preserve for the insect, than what am I doing with specimens in my collection? Well the answer is that because he discovered this population and help set up the preserve, he had special permission to collect these insects in this preserve – and once he was generous enough to bring me along. He was very protective of them and he was also a very nice guy.
Many many years have passed since I’ve collected the majority of these specimens. Yet for many of them, I remember where and when I collected them. Not only are they interesting in their own right, but they are like a memoir of that time of my life. I’m very much looking forward to cataloging a new batch of insects, and their associated memories, with Selene and my stepson Gradon.
In this episode we'll talk about strategies for identifying the critters you find while you are out. While focusing on insects, the strategies are the same no matter what you are looking at. I mention several websites that are useful in the podcast - which are: www,bugguide.net; www.flyfishingentomology.com, and www.troutnut.com. You can find these links and other useful links on the Angler's Entomology Podcast Website where there is a blog discussing this episode. Also, here is the link to the Western Maine Fly Fishing Expo that I mentioned. I hope you enjoy the episode.
Hi, welcome to the first Angler’s Entomology Podcast Blog Post. Today I’d like to add some supplementary material for the podcast about Insect Identification. Not a lot – just some links to the resources I mentioned in the podcast. And … it is the nature of a list of links online – within a relatively short period of time some of these links will be moved or broken. Sorry about that – I’m not going to be spending my time tracking down links over time. So – I hope these work for long enough for them to be useful to you.
First, though, as I mentioned on the podcast, here is the link to Western Maine Fly Fishing Expo – on March 18, 2017. Selene and I will be there with local insects. I’ll be showing them off while Selene will be tying imitations. Come on up and say ‘hi’.
So, below is a series of links to resources that I think you may find helpful. This is certainly not comprehensive – it is just a few links I’m familiar with. Between this and some googling you should be able to find some very nice resources for your locale.
Local Entomological Societies
I mentioned “local entomological societies”. To help you track some down here are two lists that may be of use. As I said, like many of these internet lists, many of the links are broken or no longer point to what they were supposed to point to. I provide the list so that you can at least know that at one point there was and may still be a local entomological society (and its name). Using that information you may be able to track them down. So try these as a resource:
http://www.entsoc.org/resources/links/countries_orgs
http://www.ent.iastate.edu/list/directory/103
Websites that may help identify insects
Here are three sites that either have sections where they will help identify insects or have very good information to help you identify insects:
www.Bugguide.net
www.Troutnut.com
www.Flyfishingentomology.com
Regional Websites that have keys or identification tools
These are just a few tools/links. It is not comprehensive – I’m sure there are other resources online that you can track down.
For New Zealand
For Western Washington and Western Oregon:
New York
Utah
North Dakota
New Hampshire
Michigan
Downloadable keys and regional resources
Here are a few sites that have keys you can download. Again, this is not comprehensive but may act as a place for folks to start. Note that many states (all?) have a program within their state “EPA” (or DNR or Dept. of Env. Quality) that assesses the health of waterways. Typically they use insect life as a bioindicator of health. Often those programs have databases of what they’ve found or resources available to ensure correct identification of those species. Some searching at your state gov website may find some useful resources. In terms of other resources or some examples of that I’ve found:
Upper Midwest (this is a great guide)
North Carolina
Florida
Books.
I love the internet, but there is nothing like a good old book. Remember for what we are doing you really don’t need the most recent (and most expensive) current edition. Older editions (while maybe not having the most recent names) are a heck of a lot cheaper. Also check these books out via interlibrary loan before purchasing. I’ve provided links to Amazon, but you can also find a lot of these used via Half Priced Books, Abe Books.
Text Resources:
Borror and Delong’s Introduction to the Study of Insects
Merritt and Cummin’s An introduction to the Aquatic Insects of North America
Aquatic Entomology by McCafferty.
(check out the used ones – there were fancy versions printed and paperback versions. The fancy versions are pretty pricey).
The "How to Know" series. These aren't comprehensive and really just deal with more common insects, but they are affordable, and a GREAT introduction to using taxonomic keys.
How to Know the Insects – Looks like this one has been updated and reprinted. Nice.
How to Know the Aquatic Insects
How to Know the Immature Insects – unfortunately very old with some rather dated and odd names
There are tons of books out there for anglers on trout stream insects. I know there are western US versions of some of these books and I’m sure there are international field guides as well. Here are a few that I have and use.
Thomas Ames, Jrs., Hatch Guide for New England Streams,
Dick Pobst, Trout Stream Insects
I hope you find these links of use and leave a comment if you know of other resources that folks may find useful.
Today we will explore the group of mayflies whose nymphs burrow - at least most of them do. This includes some of the largest most showy (and exciting from a fly fishing perspective) mayflies - such as Hex's and the Green Drake. As promised in the episode, here is a link to my wife's pattern, the Hexamongous - http://www.flyfishinginnh.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4222
Here is the pattern too, in case the link gets broken:
Hook: Daiichi 1270 Size#8
Thread: Brown
Tail: Wood Duck Flank
Body: Cream Rabbit Dubbing
Rib: Light Cream Floss
Back: Turkey Tail Fibers
Wing: Wood Duck (Tied in as a loop wing)
Legs/Throat: small dark under feather from wood duck - often attached to base of wood duck flank feathers (or mottled brown hen as modified in the post).
Finally! We get to the mayflies! In this overview we'll talk about their life history, interesting trivia and the categories that we will use to organize further discussions about the mayflies. Enjoy.
Today we will discuss the Fishflies, Alderflies and Dobsonflies - who make up the order Megaloptera. They may not be the most important group for fishing overall, but at certain times and locations you may very well come across trout eating them. And they are fascinating - I mean really, what's up with those whacko dobsonfly jaws?
No, not some obscure mayfly species, but the inventor of the Binomial System of Nomenclature - the language we all use to communicate about all this wonderful diversity. Ever feel confused about all these latin names? Well, this podcast will clear all that up. Honest.
I will start releasing these on an about monthly schedule. So, this month we are talking about order Plecoptera, the stoneflies. A relatively primitive group of insects, whose metamorphosis, behavior and lifestyle make them important insects for fly fishing. We'll talk about white nymphs, behavioral drift and even the evolution of insect flight.
Today we will explore dragonflies. While maybe not the most important insect for fly fishing, they are fascinating. We'll learn about their development, survival strategies, eyesight and migration. Enjoy the program.
Welcome to the Angler’s Entomology Podcast. In our first episode, I’ll give you a very brief bit of info about who I am and why I’m doing this podcast. I wanted to take what I knew (entomology) and provide enough background, trivia and history to make time on the water more rich. In other words, I hope through this podcast, that when you see a critter while fishing you will have a sense of what it is and how it fits in to our wonderful, beautiful world. I also give some background information on what makes an insect an insect, and metamorphosis – that miraculous change where insects morph from one stage into another. Besides being amazing, however, understanding metamorphosis is key to fishing imitations more effectively.