You are visitor #
- Home
- Visit Our Blog
- Fishing Methods
- Aquatic Entomology
- Fly Fishing Patterns
- Fishing Knots
- Solunar Tables
- Fishing Web Cams
- Prep & Recipes
- Photo Galleries
- The Flyguys Store
- Submit Your Story
- Sign Our Guest Book
- Useful Links
- Contact Us
flyguys.net
... cause God does not take from one's allotted lifespan the days spent fishing!
... fishing beautiful British Columbia & beyond!
Follow us on .......
Bookmark & share ..
Dragonfly
Dragonflies, like damselflies, have two fishable life
cycles. Dragonflies are predators that eat
mosquitoes & other small insects. They are usually
found around lakes, ponds, streams & wetlands
because their larvae, known as "nymphs", are
aquatic. Dragonflies are big ticket food items &
therfore very important with respect to fly fishing!
Behavior
The nymph is the longest stage of the life
cycle, 4 years and longer. There are two
main families of dragonfly to imitate. The
darner, weed dwellers with long bodies
and are active hunters and the red
shoulder, mud dwellers with flat round
bodies and are shy ambush style hunters.
Both live in their habitats preying on
larvae, nymphs, shrimp and small fish.
They have the ability to move very quickly
if startled in 4 to 6 inch darts by jetting
water through their body. Emergence is
not done en masse like most other
insects, individuals crawl along the
bottom toward shore and clamber out of
the water during the dark hours. Here
they seek vegetation to crawl up and
anchor to in order to break free of their
nymphal casing and emerge as an adult.
When to Fish
Year round - The nymph is always present along the
bottom of the lake preferring the cover of weed
beds (darner) and mud (red shoulder) and is most
available to trout during the spring migration to
shallow water, fall migration to deep water and
during emergence in summer.
Type of Fly Line
Floating line - with long leader/tippet in shallows to 10ft. Use either sinking tippet, sinking
dressing or a weighted fly to present quickly. Tippet size; 4x - 6x.
Sinking line - Type II for water 10 to 20 ft.
National Geographic Dragonfly Nymph Video Clip!
Fly Presentation
Present the nymph near or on weedy
bottoms (darner) and muddy bottoms (red
shoulder) of shallows, shoals and drop
offs, 4 to 10 ft and deeper to 20 ft. During
emergence, crawl the nymph along the
bottom toward the shore.
Floating Line - Attach enough tippet and
more to get to the lake bottom. Crawl a
lightly weighted nymph slowly along a
weed bed or muddy bottom with occasional
quick jerks to imitate a startled nymph.
During emergence times, retrieve towards
to the shore in a slow crawl with
occasional quick jerks.
Sinking Line - Use in depths of 10ft and
greater. Cast line along drop offs and let
settle to near or on the bottom. Work the
fly along slowly with short quick jerks to
imitate crawling and darting amongst the
weeds.
Fly Retrieval
Floating line - crawl the nymph over the
weeds and mud slowly, 2-3 inches over 2
to 3 seconds with a quick jerk of 4 to 5
inches every 20 to 30 seconds, pause
occasionally. During emergence use this
same method with the retrieval moving
towards shore.
Flies To Use
Darner and Red Shoulder Patterns.
Size 6 -10, 2X to 3X long
Bodies: light to dark green, olive, tan, brown, black (Nymphs take on the color of their habitat)
Here's some patterns that we have used successfully:
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
|
|
flyguy dragons have been developed to imitate the naturals while being strong enough to
endure the hatch. Mission accomplished!
We can tie dragons in any color combination & sizes that you require. Just contact us and
let us know what you need!
Sinking line - Once on the bottom, retrieve this line similar to the floating line. Always vary
retrievals, try short jerks to more continuous strips and alter the speed.
* Photo by Jordan Bannerman
* Photo by Glen Marks
* Photo by Scott Anderson
For even more information on dragonfly fly patterns visit the dragonfly fly patterns section of our blog!
Photo by: Ruben Breitkreutz
Photo by: Ruben Breitkreutz
Photo by: Ruben Breitkreutz
Photo by: Ruben Breitkreutz
Photo by: Ruben Breitkreutz
Photo by: Ruben Breitkreutz
Fishing Resources
BC Fishing Regulations
2009 - 2011
2009 - 2011
BC Fishing Licence
... Online Purchase!
... Online Purchase!
Kamloops & District
Fish & Game Association
...join or renew today!
Fish & Game Association
...join or renew today!
BC Wildlife Federation
...join or renew today!
...join or renew today!
If you find this site useful, please
to help keep it up!
.jpg)
The fishing Song!
... by Brad Paisley
... by Brad Paisley