8/3/2023 0 Comments Do dragonfly larvae eat fish![]() Here’s a good post regarding dragonfly nymphs in still water and how to target trout with them. ![]() Dragonfly nymphs are drawn to vegetation but can be found in rocky areas as well. They tend to huge the shallower areas of lakes and ponds. Most dragonfly nymphs live for 4-5 years in nymph form. In contrast to their adult form, dragonfly nymphs are a long-lived food source for trout, that are available year-round. The best places to use dragonfly nymph patterns are lakes and ponds. In most rivers, you’re probably better off with a damselfly nymph pattern. But not as many anglers use dragonfly nymphs to target trout. Some are short and fat, while others are quite long and slender.ĭamselfly nymphs are well known to many fly anglers. These nymphs vary significantly in size and shape. If you really want to catch trout by mimicking dragonflies, dragonfly and damselfly nymph imitations is the way to go. Foam terrestrial patterns (hoppers mostly) have worked very well for me.Ĭatching trout on a dry fly dragonfly pattern is an exciting and unique experience in fly fishing. As a side note, that’s not to say foam doesn’t have its place in trout fishing. With dragonfly patterns, leave the foam patterns to warm water anglers. I’ve had much more success fishing patterns tied with natural materials than those tied with foam. Even when using these materials, tie them sparse, as they still catch a bit of wind. deer hair, or natural feathers cast much more nicely than plastic wings. I much prefer to use a material that doesn’t catch as much air for the wings. ![]() I’ve found that solid plastic wings will cause a significant line twist when casting. I’ve tied and fished a number of different dragonfly patterns. Here’s a list of some great dragonfly and damselfly patterns to try for trout.Ī comment about wings. The strikes are often explosive and exciting, we’re not fishing midges here. The trick to this presentation is to get the smallest wake forming behind the fly. A real dragonfly has limited swimming capacity, but they can cover water slowly. Fishing this way, you can either let the fly finish its drift, or you can drag the dragonfly back to you very slowly. Great success can be found fishing them like a bomber, slapping the fly down like a dragonfly crashing into the water. This imitates and dragonfly skimming along the surface either hunting or depositing eggs. When fishing stillwater with active trout, you can try “skipping” the fly across the surface. A few twitches can help mimic a struggling dragonfly that got caught in the surface film, but trout will take a dead drift as well. In slow current, you can drift the fly like you would any other dry fly. How to Fish Dragonfly Patterns for Trout? The summer months tend to produce best when fishing dragonfly patterns, but they can be successfully fished as early in the year as May. This is probably because there simply tends to be more dragonflies in this environment. ![]() It really depends on the water your fishing and the forage available.ĭragonfly patterns work very well in stillwater such as lakes and ponds. Dragonfly patterns can still work in rivers though. I’ve also had better luck with smaller damselfly patterns in rivers than bulky dragonfly patterns. Where to fish Dragonfly Patterns for trout?įor fishing rivers I’ve found still water, calm eddies, and slow current to work better fishing dragonflies than riffles, tailwaters, or other fast water. I have not caught a brown on a dragonfly, but the video below proves that browns definitely prey on adult dragonflies. I’ve personally caught both sea-run brook trout and rainbow trout on dragonfly dry fly patterns. As an angler that targets both fish, I’ve found that both trout and bass will eat dragonflies (and damselflies). It’s one of those prey items that many trout anglers think are too big, and bass anglers think are too small. Adult dragonflies are an interesting prey species.
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