Early black stones

[Fascist Killer]

I know we were talking about stones elsewhere on the forum. Just came across this pattern. Thought it would be a good one for the upcoming months.

http://www.hawkinsflyfishing.com/black_stone_fly.php

[nutman]

that is a nice one ,I liked that one rego thanks ,ill have to try to get my hands on some of those hooks .

[AaronJasper]

Black Copper John!!!! ;D I do like that pattern but I have a dozen size 16 Black Copper Johns! When they are gone, I will make a dozen of those!

[SlowNDeep]

The first time I saw all the little black stones all over the snow in NY, I tied a bunch of these.

The pic is not great but its a really simple tie and its effective.

Tail - Black hackle
Thread body or kreinik thin braid
Black hare/hares ear thorax Could definately improve with black ice dub blended in here

[Fascist Killer]

Slo- Great pattern... Maybe an FOTM for February? That's when they start hatching right?

[alanb_ct]

Both of these patterns look excellent. These small black stones are really common on the Farmington in about a month or so when the sun is out strongly. You can see them crawling all over the snow. In my experience, you see them the most right around maple-sugaring time (late Feb). Up until now, I have been using size 18 all black Hare's ears for this hatch. To be honest, I've never done that great on these bugs.

The few times I went steelhead fishing in Pulaski, many people were doing well with this same fly.

[Troutfishing4life]

Aaron
when should i start to use the copper johns in black in Nj and i what rivers

[Nymphmeister]

I generally haven't done well specifically imitating the smaller early season Stonefli for trout either. Aaron has an interesting theory on this, and it makes perfect sense to me: the nymphs migrate to the shallows at the stream margins, and on bigger streams & rivers (mostly what I fish), the Winter holding water is typically a good distance away from these areas. In small streams & brooks, they do feed heavily on the nymphs and it may be worth imitating them because the stream margins are right next to the holding water. Hope I explained this so it is makes sense. I've had much better luck in the late Winter/very early Spring using generic nymphs such as Hare's Ears and Pheasant Tails in sizes that could imitate the Early Stones and other bugs. These patterns also cover Baetis nymphs, Paraleps, Hendricksons, etc.

[alanb_ct]

That's an excellent theory, also there is probably less food items of choice in small streams. What's interesting to me is that these bugs are active at all (this includes the winter caddis). Certain insects produce a sort of alcohol in their blood (from sorbitol sugars I think), and this gives them personal blood antifreeze. I may have the chemistry all wrong, but I know certain beetles can freeze and re-animate by the same process.

[Fascist Killer]

Alain I think you're on to something there... How do we manufacture this for winter fly fishermen... Who needs underarmor when you have antifreeze!