Little black stonefly

[alatt]

What is the average size of the little bk. stone fly in central pa?

 

[Chaz]

The Early one is #18 an #16 nymph.
The later one is a #14 with a # 12 nymph.
I use 2 different patterns, a black caddis with deer hair wings for the # 18, and an all black Henryville Special for the # 14. If the trout aren't taking them dead drift, then give the fly a little shake to give it motion.

 

[blueheron]

All black Henryville sounds like a winner, I may have to tie some up.

 

[blueheron]

All black Henryville sounds like a winner, I may have to tie some up.

 

[BradFromPotter]

This what I came up with back in the 90's when I had my shop...

hook 16-18
wings..dark dun turkey biots
hackle...grizzly or dun
body...fine black dubbing

 

[lv2nymph]

I always thought the early black nymphs were more of an 18 and real skinny, at least when I took samples that's what I found. I would imagine size could vary from stream to stream?

 

[midnightangler]

The early black stoneflies are smaller, around size 18. The larger ones are early brown stoneflies, and they tend to be about size 14.

I had one land on my hand today, actually, in Virginia. It was 70 degrees.

 

[osprey]

BradFromPotter................Those are great lookin!!!!!!! I'll bet they skate better than Sid the Kid. Really , those are very nice and right on the money , tie 'em up and get ready 'cause it won't be long . in fact down south here the litttle ones might be thinkin about it now with the warm. NICE!!!

 

[IdratherbePhishing]

They're coming off in south central pa.

 

[DGC]

The early stoneflies are an annual discussion. They can range from #22 to #14 for the LBS and EBS. They are not all the same family (Capnia, Nemourid, Leuctra, etc.) and there are hundreds of species within each of those families yet they though look very similar so the same patterns in different sizes covers them.

They live in a wide variety of habitats, not just rocky areas. An all black EHC in a variety of sizes, not too heavy with the wing or hackle, covers them and skates well enough which can be good to do. I have also seen guys with micro stimulators that were very delicately done that looked great but I have never tied stimmies that small.

The number of streams with fishable populations of these seems to be increasing. I cut my teeth on these in Northern MD, especially the Gunpowder watershed.

On a side note, I used to live on Front St. in Harrisburg in the mid to late 90's and the April mating flights and emergences on the Susky were quite thick. Given the big river's water quality issues it would be interesting to know if they still come off well.

 

[afishinado]

DGC wrote:
The early stoneflies are an annual discussion. They can range from #22 to #14 for the LBS and EBS. They are not all the same family (Capnia, Nemourid, Leuctra, etc.) and there are hundreds of species within each of those families yet they though look very similar so the same patterns in different sizes covers them.

They live in a wide variety of habitats, not just rocky areas. An all black EHC in a variety of sizes, not too heavy with the wing or hackle, covers them and skates well enough which can be good to do. I have also seen guys with micro stimulators that were very delicately done that looked great but I have never tied stimmies that small.

The number of streams with fishable populations of these seems to be increasing. I cut my teeth on these in Northern MD, especially the Gunpowder watershed.

On a side note, I used to live on Front St. in Harrisburg in the mid to late 90's and the April mating flights and emergences on the Susky were quite thick. Given the big river's water quality issues it would be interesting to know if they still come off well.

Good info by DGC, above. Don't forget SF nymphs. The nymphs crawl up on the bank to hatch and for the most part, the winged adults are either not accessible to the fish, and/or the water is too cold in the winter for the fish to be in the mood to rise.

Small black SF nymphs need not be very complicated. A rather thin body of black dubbing or even thread for smaller nymphs with a little ribbing, maybe a black wing case (I omit a WC for the smaller flies) with picked out dubbing for legs in the thorax area. I often tie it with a small black bead to add some weight to the fly.

That's it. They seem to work quite well when the SF are out and about.

 

[SBecker]

Black pheasant tail with blue wire rib did well for me last year when I fished an obvious hatch.

 

[Fishidiot]

DGC wrote:
Given the big river's water quality issues it would be interesting to know if they still come off well.

Yep, they're still coming off and in the Juniata as well. I think they're heavier than ever on the J, at least in my experience.
Last year, sometime in late March or early April, I witnessed the densest emergence of little browns on the Juniata that I've seen anywhere. There were no fish feeding that I could see, at least no rises......but boy, what a sight to behold. Stoneflies everywhere! They were on my clothes and scampering across the rims of my eye glasses.

 

[Fishidiot]

Here's my standard early stone dry fly - basically a palmered hackle body and hackle tip for the over wing. I like the hackle pretty dense as these buggers tend to skitter and a thicker fly floats better when skittered.

 

[lv2nymph]

Looks good, I like them. I'm gonna try them and your nymphs Sb. they sound like good ones as well.