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Posted

A pictorial for those thinking about taking up fly fishing and wondering what aquatic life a trout will eat along the way....

 

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A March Brown mayfly nymph next to a predatory caddis larva eating a cased caddis larva in the Big Flat Brook River

 

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A "rusty spinner".  This is the sexually mature mayfly stage of the Hendrickson mayfly, a common Eastern species that indicates the beginning of steady dry fly action on Eastern streams each April and early May.  And my favorite fly to imitate!

 

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More predatory rhyacophila (green rockworm or green caddis) larva seined in the Musky last November.

 

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Stoneflies!  Not enough anglers know to imitate these large nymphs which average hook sizes 4, 6 and 8s.

 

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Cased caddis.  These are brachycentrus caddis.  If you look closely, you'll see some sticking parts of their bodies out of the cases they form to protect themselves.

 

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Black nosed dace.  Best imitated with a streamer pattern.

 

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Slimy sculpin.  Same as above, a streamer best imitates these bait fish common on our NJ trout streams.

 

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Common shiner which are also abundant in our local streams and rivers.

 

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A brown woolly bugger imitates our crayfish as well as any fly.  Brown trout and big rainbows and brookies love these for a solid meal!

 

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One of our local sulphur mayflies, also very common in mid to late May through June most years.  Little yellow mayflies that hatch late in the day and right up until dark.

 

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Another close up of one of our common stoneflies.

 

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Mayfly dun

 

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The red eft.  Far more common trout food than many anglers know!

 

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Bad picture of a golden stonefly adult.  Also common on our waters but seldom imitated by fly anglers which is a mistake when they are hatching.

 

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The Isonychia mayfly.  One of my favorites because trout pound them even if they aren't big in numbers while hatching.  Recent seine net results on the middle Musky show these as our predominant mayfly species which came as a surprise to me.  The common name to this insect is the "white-gloved howdy" which refers to the white legs that look like it has gloves on to some.

 

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A veritable hodge-podge of trout food!

Posted

That is the reason I like the fall. I Hate BBugs!

FPC  - "Without either the first or second amendment, we would have no liberty; the first allows us to find out what's happening, the second allows us to do something about it! The second will be taken away first, followed by the first and then the rest of our freedoms." - Andrew Ford
 

Posted

For those that don't like bugs, you would be happy to know that none of the above save for the crayfish with its claws are capable of biting a person.  In fact, mayflies once hatched from their nynphal stage no longer even have a mouth to feed.  They fly to streamside vegetation, molt one last time into the sexually mature stage (imago) and mate in the air above the river, lay eggs, and die on the water's surface, thereby completing their one year circle of life.  And feeding our trout!  :)

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