Ant stories?

[Silver Creek]

Jim Greenlee and I hiked up to the first meadow on Slough Creek many, many years ago. I was a relatively new fly fisher.

Jim and I separated and I found a spot upstream of another angler who was fishing to a rising trout. I found a single rising fish and I fished to him for a full 45 minutes without even having the fish look at one of my flies. The angler downstream was having no luck either. Then I switched to a McMurray ant pattern that has since saved my bacon numerous times. The fish took on the first drift.

After I landed the fish and released it, the angler downstream from me grabbed his rod like a javelin and there the rod and reel across Slough Creek. Then he waded across the stream, grabbed his outfit, and left.

Art Lee has called the McMurray ant the "greatest dry fly ever invented"

Sparse Grey Matter • View topic - Mc Murray ant... Warning not a Catskillian

[AaronJasper]

My best ant story happened on the West Branch of the Delaware. I was sixteen and I thought the fish were feeding On tiny olives I didn't know about flying ants until I went to the shop and asked why they were going bonkers and I only caught three, he replied with, "there was a massive flying ant fall today." I was perplexed so he explained it all to me. Since that day, I've never been without it.

[SherpaB]

This coincides with the post on my first fish..My first summer of fly fishing my dad and brother and me hit the Swift River in MA every week sometimes twice a week if my dad could get off work...anyhow we learned quickly that Trout like ants...I favor black ants...even if red ones are around...also jassids worked. I met a guy on the river who was a pro-tyer for Orvis at that time and he noticed I was young and very into the sport. He hammered fish on ants, jassids and beatles...was a great guy, very quiet but showed me a few tricks here and there on fishing and even gave me a little piece of a Jungle Cock neck so I could tiem a bunch of Jassids, I still have a little piece of it...probably will never use it...just a cool memory. One day I spotted him going for a huge rainbow under a tree...he was the best caster I have ever seen...got the fish...I waded down to see it in the net and it was every bit of 20" thick and fat...asked what he was using...ants...anyhow I've had a few ants in my boxes every outing since then...they have bailed me out more than a few times...

[Johnny Utah]

First I love the old standard black ant pattern and Black parachute ants. Use them all the time, they work. Look for maples and sycamores on the banks and there will carpenter ants. The trout know them well.

So heres the true story. I was flying a creek near my home with over hanging maples. It was late September, there was a breeze and the leaves began to hatch. The trout where rising in various areas of the stream. I picked a trout that was along the far bank in a tricky current seam. With my standard black ant on i made my first cast, It fell an inch short of the seem and didnt get a look. I made my second cast, It landed right on the edge of maple leaf coming down the seem, I left it right on the edge. The trout came up and took the fly right off the leaf. A beautiful 14" wild brown. I can still see it coming up and taking the fly off the leaf. Thats one of my favorite fly fishing moments.

Johnny.

[Silver Creek]

Back when I just started fly fishing I was on a local stream in the middle of summer and I had not caught a thing. I was hit by an afternoon thunder storm and I took cover under some trees. After about 20 minutes the pelting rains stopped, but I was discouraged and wet, and started to walk back along the stream to my car.

The I saw it. There were some trout rising down from some overhanging trees. I was able to catch one on a dry attractor and I found that it had been eating small black beetles that were washed off of the trees by the storm.

I had no beetle patterns but I did have some Crowe ant patterns. I removed the front part of the ant body and used it as a beetle pattern. The fish took the modified ant readily and it saved my day of fishing.

[325paratrooper]

foam tube black/cinnamon bodies with hackle. Brookies and wary trout crush these all the time

[Silver Creek]

Here are some ants I tied over this winter in sizes 16, 14, & 12.





Close up

[KPitt]

years ago in Northeastern B.C. I approached a pool created by one river joining another. There were splashy rises right up on the rocky shore, I wasn't sure what was happening but I stood back and dropped a little dry about two inches from the shore. A Grayling took it right away, so I steared him out of the pool and released him. After that I had to wait a while but they started doing it again so I crawled up to see what they were doing. there were black ants down right on the waters edge and the Grayling were splashing them so they would fall in the water and they could eat them. Pretty cool I thought.