What Were They Rising to - terrestrials?

Yesterday I was fishing a northeastern stream. Fish were rising fairly regularly, though there wasn't a hatch. I assumed the fish were rising for emergers and that a hatch would soon begin, but it didn't.

I had been advised to fish terrestrials, so now I'm wondering if fish could fish rise so regularly for ants and beetles or was something else going on?

Thanks,

Randy

A couple years back there was a terrific rise of trout on the Selway River. Almost looked like a hail storm on the water. NO hatch. There was a mess of tiny ants though. That was the ticket for the day.

REE

Two things some to mind.

1) Midges
2) flying ants

Last year, I had a situation in which you described. Fish rising, no apparent hatch, me feeling like an idiot....until I noticed a flying ant on my shirt sleeve.

I know all the mags say you should use a fly ant pattern in this case, but a regularly ant pattern did just fine.

I think this was the second flying ant "hatch" I had seen in 13 years of flyfishing.

Terrestrials = Location and rise form.

Where were they rising in relation ship to the bank and what was the rise form?

Rises to small terrestrials that cannot be seen are usually close to the bank, or below overhanging trees and vegetation. Usually sipping rises. Could be ants or beetles and even small caterpillars.

Flying ants can land anywhere and are the exception to location downstream from overhanging vegetation and/or close to the bank. Terrestrial rises often occur after a rain shower.

Prospect with a two dry fly system with a beetle as the top fly and an ant as the tip fly.

Thanks so much for the help. Definately sipping rises. The stream is small and covered with overhanging trees, so ants could fall anywhere. It wasn't at all windy, so I didn't think that
so many ants could be falling into the water.

Randy

My vote is for midges.

Other than regular occurrences like flying ant hatches which may or may not happen in the area you were fishing; in my experience in the Northeast terrestrial risers are more sporadic since terrestrials are an opportunistic meal. Also, ants aren't the clumsiest critters on the planet. The likelihood that a bunch of them were losing their footing with regularity in the branches above with out a stiff breeze to give them a nudge is small. Besides, most terrestrials struggle actively in the surface film so they can be easy to spot with close look if a substantial number were floating by. The rises to terrestrials can also be explosive especially with beetles since sporadic occurrences bring out the competition in the pool.

What appear to be regular sipping rises can sometimes be bulging or sub-surface rises to emerging midges. If I don't see a trout's nose break the surface I assume that's what is happening. My first tactic is to try a pattern like a Griffith's Gnat in a size 20-22 and see what the reaction is. If they seem disinterested I go to a sub-surface midge pupa.

In the Northeast midge pupa patterns in small sizes from 20-32 can be deadly at these times. My preferred method to fish them is to suspend a pattern under a really small blob of Strike Putty about the size of a peppercorn with the distance between the fly & indicator a matter of trial & error based on current flow and feeding position. Yesterday on a moderate pool of a favorite stream 6" was the magic distance between fly & indicator.

Sometimes in these situations I forgo worrying about the regular risers and play to opportunity and just tie on a beetle and moving from pool to pool fishing the water looking for willing participants. The "run & gun" tactic of terrestrial fishing I use where I fish almost never fails this time of year.

Good luck!

Just an idea for you when things get complex and you can't find a solution at hand. Myself, I'll jump right in the feeding lane and put my nose right down to the water and look for a solution to what those risers were eating. If I need further evidence the bug seine comes out.
It's pretty hard to tell what's going on from 10 or 40 ft. sometime. I might put a few fish down for awhile in that spot but I can move knowing what fly to use as a hatch matcher and come back later after giving the fish a rest if there is a worthwhile fish there.
Anyhoo, I look for physical evidence rather than a rise form guess-tamation when the fish are fussy about taking my fly.

Another thing I do for times like these is carry a small set of binoculars with me on the water. I have used them to close that gap a little further from me to the feed and often I have been suprised how clearly I can pick up exactly what the fish ate. Especially if they are feeding on bugs actually on the surface. The binocs also help when there are multiple overlapping hatches and fish are keying on one type of bug. I can get a little closer look and find out exactly which bug the fish are eating out of the buffet line.

Certainly could be midges, good suggestion. But I noted that the proviso was that there was NO HATCH.

I had exactly the same thing happen to me a few weeks ago. Sipping rises, and you can't see what the fish are feeding on. This time it was beetles. What I found was beetles mating and coupled on the overhanging leaves and branches. The brush was full of them. A slight breeze would blow them off of the leaves because the male was mounted on the female and the female was barely clinging to the leaf.

I'd never seen that before but it was my invisible hatch.

The trick is observation - and then to know what it is you are seeing. I'm just thrilled to see this type of discussion here!

While fishing the local stocked stream for dinner I was having moderate success on elk hair caddis but the hatch was sporadic at best and dwindled to none but the fish were still sipping flies off the top. Thinking midges my luck bottomed out and out of desperation I tied on an elk hair caddis that had a peacock herl body and first cast had one on. I limited out and headed home with my dinner and while cleaning them found them to be stuffed with Japanese beetles. They never even crossed my mind but the peacock herl made a pretty close match for that iridescent green body.

To OP.....midges! I'd almost guarantee if there were regular, subtle rises, they were taking midges.....probably in very small sizes. (#28 and smaller) Another possibility would be one of the many species of tiny olives, but you would have probably noticed them.

How about spinners from an earlier hatch? They can be very difficult to see unless you really study the water surface. If it wasn't spinners I would cast a vote for small ants, I think if they were feeding on midges you would see some of them coming off the water. Just my 2 cents on the subject.

Rodney

I agree LadyFisher!

Learnin' something is always fun! Great replies!

Bob

Oh to have a hatch like that to figure out! Its been so darned hot & dry that the few fish I do come across aren't really feeding during the day, and I've set off in search of smallies for the time being.

In the situation you describe, I'd go with a #20-22 Griffith's Gnat. It can be a midge, ant, etc. I've even used them as a tiny caddis in a pinch.

I encounter the phantom hatch everytime I go to the Hooch in the summer, dozen of rises and not a bug in sight. I have strained by eyes looks for something coming off the water or going onto the water, nothing, nor is there anything floating on the surface. That said I have done pretty well with an ant under a dry fly, usually an Adams or Parachute Adams. I have used a Timberline Emerger under a dry with some success also and sometimes they take the dry. I don't know what I'm doing, but I listen more than my wife thinks I do.