This is a time of year dry fly enthusiasts look forward to. After watching strike indicators all winter and spring, its finally time to tie on something you can see and make them come up and eat it. Often, the strike on a terrestrial pattern will be enthusiastic; after surviving on tiny midges and nymphs for months, the opportunity to score a big meal is worth the effort.

Terrestrials include ants, grasshoppers, beetles, moths, bees, and other insects that spend their adult lives on land. From a fly angler’s perspective, they are larger and easier to see. The addition of a parachute or wing helps them show up even in marginal light conditions. Because most are tied on larger hooks, terrestrials are easier to tie onto a tippet in low light.

Just because you see a huge hatch of tiny flies, don’t think you need to “match the hatch”. Getting a trout to choose your fly amongst thousands of similar targets is often harder than getting them to try a “real meal”.

Evening hatches are always fun to fish but even during the middle of the day ants, grasshoppers and beetles are  effective. This flying ant pattern has become a go-to favorite of ours.It floats well and has a plastic wing that’s easy to see. See more timely information at: http://www.anglerpocketguides.com/ – “Angler’s Guide to Rocky Mountain National Park”.