Monday, June 21, 2010

Aphid fly

This Saturday I came to an unusual situation on my favorite stillwater: the expected buzzer hatch did not materialize - I suspect sudden change in air pressure, accompanied by drop in temperature of about 15°C was to blame - but some fish never the less were rising. No insect activity was apparent and the fish ignored all my flies: both dark and pale mayflies, caddis flies, beetles and daddy long legs I kept changing in my increasing desperation.

I finally succeeded in provoking a couple rainbows to attack a red & white lure; autopsy showed that the cause of the rises was a fall of rather large aphids, which were carried by wind from surrounding aspen trees. Until then I had no aphid in my fly box, a sad fact I set today to rectify.

The tie:
#20 Hanák 130BL hook (a #22 or #24 hook would be even better, this was the smallest I had)
green Hends body thread for the body
2 layers of lacquer (the buoyant kind, not epoxy)
tip of a CDC feather
17/0 white UNI Trico thread
a light touch of black CD marker

2 comments:

  1. Your Aphid's body shape is more realistic than mine but I worry about closing the gape of what is a tiny hook after all so make mine "wrong" (slim). I have some down eye small hooks but again prefer straight ring eye to keep the gape as open as possible.

    What tippet do you use with your Aphid?

    Regular Rod

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  2. I confess this fly has yet to land a fish: aphid situations are few and far between (though when they occur they ask for a accurate representation).

    I did not have an opportunity to test the fly yet. The shape is influenced by Balkan style ants that work well for me, but reduced in size.

    As for tippet I would use the thinnest I carry, which is .08mm Stroft

    Jindra

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