Gear and technique for summer trout
This week we will finish our discussion on fishing with landbased insects for trout. Fortunately no special gear is required to effectively fish flies which imitate these species. Since most of your fishing will take place when the water is low and clear, a 5-7 weight rod from eight to nine feet should do the trick.
I generally use a weight forward line when fishing grasshopper patterns in the wind, but a double taper is the ticket when fishing smaller flies in low water. Leader length and makeup can be critical to your success. A long leader will allow you to effectively present the fly, but the bigger hopper and cricket patterns require enough stiffness to turn them over properly.
Delivery of the fly depends both on patterns and location. Many of the land-based insects you will encounter, such as grasshoppers and crickets or bees and beetles, are fairly large insects which make a disturbance when they end up in the water. They are not good swimmers and will struggle on the surface for a short period of time before sinking. To imitate this behaviour, I often pair up a floating fly to imitate the insect when it first enters the water with a wet fly or nymph pattern to imitate the sunken insect. I use a short piece of leader to tie the dropper fly to the bend of the floater. The floating fly serves double duty as a great strike indicator as I present the fly.
While trout are opportunistic, and will take any advantage of whatever feed is available, to them you can improve your odds by taking some time to observe what is going on before you make your first cast. The streamside habitat where you fish is a good clue to what type of terrestrial pattern you should fish. If the bank is covered with trees you might expect beetles, ants and inch worms to be common, while grassy banks mean hoppers and crickets may be more common. Since wasps and bees, as well as flying ants, are found anywhere, they can make good searching patterns wherever you fish.
A basic understanding of trout feeding behavior will also help you when fishing terrestrials. While trout in rivers will usually hug the bank or set up feeding stations behind a structure such as rocks, there are other areas you should target as well. These include eddies, and the tails of pools where food will be funneled to waiting trout. Fishing the edges of foam lines is always a good idea and the foam that gathers at the bottom of pools will not only collect insects, but will also provide cover for fish — a winning combination. While some of the more common terrestrial insects tend to be found on streams and rivers, anglers who target lakes should also include a few in their fly box. Flying ants, wasps and bees often end up in lakes, so be ready.
Don’t despair if you don’t have a fly box full of exact imitations. In my experience a good selection of muddler minnows, black gnats and woolly worms in a variety of colours and sizes will cover most situations in a pinch. However, since most terrestrial patterns are fairly straight forward, as well as fun to tie, you should try tying a few the next time you are at the vice. Terrestrials are one of the areas of fly tying that has benefitted the most from the use of synthetic material. Foam, epoxy, plastic all show up in one pattern or another.
So don’t despair when the mayfly hatch is over on your favourite lake. If you want to heat up your summer fishing, try beating the bushes and give terrestrials a chance. You won’t be disappointed.