Ants

[osprey]

Did any one else have a good year using ants? I tie a foam ant black and light brown versi9ons and it was a summer blast but they sure are goneall of a sudden.

 

[laszlo]

Didn't have much luck with ants, with what size were you having success?

 

[just_jon]

I had a blast fishing ants on my home water this summer. I stopped under a decaying tree hanging overhanging the stream to tie on a fly and felt something fall down the back of my shirt. ANTS!!!

I must have fished downstream of that tree 15 times and always caught fish using a #14 deer hair ant with a epoxy wet ant trailing. The wet ant out fished the dry by a wide margin.

 

[lv2nymph]

I did have a descent go with ants this year, honestly every year. A long time ago the person that showed and taught me the most about FFing told me one of the patterns you want to have all the time is an ant. He carries one box with six to ten patterns in it that's it, he catches trout through the year quite regularly. One of the droppers I use frequently is a 18-20 wet ant. ( sometimes a 14-16 )Even when ants are not out they work, don't know and really don't care. :-D ( probably for the same reason the diving caddis pattern works that well)

 

[osprey]

Lazlo.........early on when they first show up on the trees , the big black ones , carpenter ants i use about a 16 maybe a 14 , later on in the dog days i'm down to 24 sometimes and 10x tippet but they still sip em in and i've had 20 fish days never changing pattern.....i love those ants and so do trout.....it's like they remember they taste good. I had one which i think was a holdover come 30 ft from where he was feeding to eat an ant.....i mostly fish on top........GOOD LUCK and KEEP ANTIN......0

 

[WildTigerTrout]

Ants and Beetles are two favorite summertime patterns . One of the nicest wild browns I caught this year was on BFC (Clinton Co.). I caught him on one of my size 16 parachute black ants. It was on water that was slow and smooth as glass which made the catch even more rewarding. I fish sinking ants also and IMO they seem to work even better than the floating ones.

 

[Maurice]

Orange ants make the fish say uncle.

 

[Gorosaurus]

Do you guys make all of your ants parachutes? I have real trouble seeing any that aren't

 

[sniperfreak223]

^no...not all of them...but I have petty good eyesight. If I'm fishing really tiny ants, I'll just fish them either behind a small indicator or on a dropper about two feet behind either a parachute Adams or a hopper.

 

[lv2nymph]

Gorosaurus wrote:
Do you guys make all of your ants parachutes? I have real trouble seeing any that aren't

I have a couple of parachutes and winged patterns that I carry, (just in case) but for the most part I fish em wet.

 

[Fishidiot]

WildTigerTrout wrote:
I fish sinking ants also and IMO they seem to work even better than the floating ones.

Same here. A small, black sinking ant is deadly when fished under a big dry fly or when nymph fishing - use one in tandem with a Zebra Midge. And don't give up on ants (or any terrestrials) this time of year. They're still active and fish are still on the lookout for them.

 

[dryflyguy]

Gorosaurus wrote:
Do you guys make all of your ants parachutes? I have real trouble seeing any that aren't

You could tie in an indicator on regular ant patterns to show them better.

Expanding further on Maurice's orange ant's, I've recently started tying some crowe beetles with orange deer hair. No problem following them for sure - and they work!

 

[dc410]

Murry's flying beetle has been a great terrestrial pattern for me over the years. It sits low in the film (like a deer hair ant) but the small tuft of deer or elk hair wing on top makes the fly very visible. When your beetle "splats" on the surface the trout can hardly resist checking it out. After reading through this thread I'm thinking a small wet ant tied off of the bend of this beetle would probably be an awesome combination. I could see picking up a lot fish on the ant if the trout decided to refuse to take the beetle and the beetle could be used as a very effective indicator for the take on the ant. I can't wait to give this set up a work out! Good thread.

 

[Chaz]

I use ants a lot during the summer, but not on brookies streams, brookies always seem to swallow them deep.

 

[wgmiller]

10X?!?!? Oy vey...

 

[dsmith1427]

This thread has inspired me to sit at the bench and tie up a few patterns. Orange will be on the list.

Don

 

[Tiogadog]

I tie parachute ants in the following colors... black, brown, mahogany and black, red and black, and cinnamon... hackle colors are either black, brown, or grizzly...

I tie these on Tiemco 2488 hooks in sizes 14-22...I would say a size 16 mahogany and black with a grizzly hackle is my number one producer...but that may be due to me fishing it more than any other combo

 

[CLSports]

All summer long. Mostly as a point fly in front of my Trico pattern. Black, size 18, parachute style does the job.