Your favorite wet ant pattern

[jifigz]

I love fishing ants but I basically only fish parachute ant dry flies. I'm looking for some wet/drowned ant pattern suggestions. I tied up a few awesome possum' dubbing bodies with a soft hackle in the front. I plan on trying these out soon. I also tied a few with the hackle in the middle of the two bumps of the body. What sunken ant patterns do you folks have a lot of faith in?

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[lestrout]

Yo jif - just humps of thread, then lacquered, with the hackle in the middle get it done

 

[Baron]

"Good article about tying and fishing fur only flies, aka Walt's Worm type patterns."

https://troutbitten.com/2020/08/09/feed-em-fur/

Jif,
Did you see this link perjured from Afish earlier in week. My interest is gills hiding in the stumps but I bet trout would love them as well, goin into fall.

 

[jifigz]

I did not see anything posted by afishinado. Walt's worms will always be one of my favorite patterns, however. I like ties that are quick, dirty, and catch fish. I was looking for maybe some unusual ant type patterns but I probably won't find them.

 

[Wild_Trouter]

Here's one that is easy peezy to tie and is downright deadly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkkFlnvyQ8A

 

[Swattie87]

Make a few junky, draggy presentations and get your dry ant fly good and wet. Now you have a drowned ant.

I seem remarkably effective at this...Getting the ant to sink I mean. And coupled with them being hard to see is why I don't fish them that much. (I tend to catch more with them when they're actually still floating, so I'm usually not trying to sink them.) I use a pretty standard flying ant pattern with a little brown hackle. Always feel like it should float better than it does.

I will say this...An ant is the one pattern that seems to fool a really picky fish more consistently than any other in my experience. If you can't figure out a rising fish, and there aren't other easier fish rising nearby to occupy you, try an ant. (That's pretty much the only time I fish them due to the above frustrations, though I do always keep a couple on hand for that situation.)

 

[afishinado]

lestrout wrote:
Yo jif - just humps of thread, then lacquered, with the hackle in the middle get it done

+1 ^

The video posted above by Wild_Trouter showed a thread bodied ant using clear UV coating.

I like to tie the hackle sparse and with soft hackle fibers.

Pretty simple, yet effective pattern.

 

[larkmark]

Try a wet ant tied off bend of hook of a green weenie. You don't need any special and because the weenie pulls it under. Trout like it and will take the ant more often than weenie. Otherwise lacquer regular thread body any.

 

[JoeE]

Try a Muskrat nymph. Joe E

 

[jifigz]

Swattie87 wrote:
Make a few junky, draggy presentations and get your dry ant fly good and wet. Now you have a drowned ant.

I seem remarkably effective at this...Getting the ant to sink I mean. And coupled with them being hard to see is why I don't fish them that much. (I tend to catch more with them when they're actually still floating, so I'm usually not trying to sink them.) I use a pretty standard flying ant pattern with a little brown hackle. Always feel like it should float better than it does.

I will say this...An ant is the one pattern that seems to fool a really picky fish more consistently than any other in my experience. If you can't figure out a rising fish, and there aren't other easier fish rising nearby to occupy you, try an ant. (That's pretty much the only time I fish them due to the above frustrations, though I do always keep a couple on hand for that situation.)

My parachute ants float amazingly well. Although, I feel that the bright white post may throw some fish off if it was fished underwater. I fish the parachute style because I can see it quite easily on the water and it is by far the most effective style of dry fly ant I have ever fished.

 

[jifigz]

It sounds like I need to get some UV resin. I have never tied with that stuff but I'll pick some up next time I am in State College.

 

[lestrout]

Yo jf - if'n you nab UV resin, you might need a UV light. I've been dawdling on that since there are a number of opinions on the right UV wavelengths vs the lamps. I also gather there are cheaper, better alternatives to the fly tackle houses' lamps. Though maybe sunlight is good enough.

 

[Baron]

Ants make us beginners look like pros.

 

[Bamboozle]

Three ideas:

1. Make a fur-bodied ant with hackle legs, (basic ant pattern), rub some creek mud on it and fish it on a Fluorocarbon leader or use a leader sinking paste on a mono tippet. (see below **) It should sink just fine. You can also fish the same pattern dry.

2. Make the same fur-bodied ant but first put a single wrap of black Ultra Wire on the hook shank. You may want to use the X-Small size. If you can’t find black Ultra Wire, go to a craft store and look for small diameter black beading wire. If you can’t find that, use whatever color you got and a Sharpie.

(BTW – I use single wrapped X-Small Ultra Wire in black & white for the thorax to make sinking Tricos.

3. Make a fur-bodied ant from untreated rabbit fur and starling for the legs. It will probably start to sink in short order.

**You can make your own leader sink paste by combining powdered Fuller’s Earth with a just enough Dawn dishwashing liquid to make a paste. Some folks add a bit of glycerin to keep if from drying out. I just use spit when it gets dry.

FWIW - The oil in you skin acts as a natural floatant on your tippet, especially if you pull your leader through your fingers to straighten it out. The leader sinking paste acts as a de-greaser. Using a rubber patch to straighten your leader also helps to get some of that oil off as well.

Bottom line, sometimes all you need to do to get your fly to sink below the surface is to get your leader to sink below the surface.

Have fun!!

 

[sarce]

jifigz, your second style in your OP is exactly what I always did and they've always worked well for me.

 

[nymphingmaniac]

two bumps of any black fur with a black soft hackle in the middle like you described. I used to lacquer them, but stopped.
I have submitted a matte black bead for the head section to get it down.
I know people who use quick descent dubbing to get it down, but man that's a pain to dub.

 

[redietz]

lestrout wrote:
Yo jif - just humps of thread, then lacquered, with the hackle in the middle get it done

Yep, although on a larger (say size 14) ant, it take a heck of a lot of wraps of thead. I build up the lumps with floss, then overwrap with thread. I've taken up coating with UV resin instead of lacquer, but either one works.


I tie them that way, and a dubbed version as well, depending on how quickly I want them to sink.

 

[shakey]

i mostly dub two fur balls with hackle between them.

i tye them in black.brown and orange.

if fishing is tough i will try them with a red rar hump,or,a gray rear hump,

all of my ants are fur,i don't use thread ants anymore.

 

[dc410]

The first trout I ever caught on a fly rod was taken on a wet black ant some 40+ years ago. It’s funny how I can vividly remember the details of tying that fly and catching my first trout on the fly on it. It was tied on a size 14 Mustad 3906B hook. Thread was black monocord. I didn’t have any black dubbing back then so I remember plucking some fibers off of a card of black yarn to use as dubbing for the two body sections. The hackle in the center was a feather from a brown Indian neck. It was good enough to fool a stocked brownie on the FFO section of the West Branch of the Octararo Creek and formally kicked off my flyfishing career. Great to take a moment to reflect back on those times.

 

[Sruflytyer]

Size 14 to 18 wetfly hook with thread hump body. I would use the peacock colored krystal flash for the legs in between the two humps, then hit the front and back thread humps with UV. Always had good luck on orange wet ants in the CV area. Would also have luck with a dubbed body and krystal flash legs with a CDC wing just under the surface when I was too lazy to apply drying powder.