I guess with all the emphasis on bugs and other invertibrates I never thought trout would eat a snail. On my last trip to the White river the most successful pattern I used was a size 14 olive bead head flashback. It looked almost identical to the size, color and general shape of the snails that were among the rocks. The snails seemed extremely prolific at the Rim Shoals area where we did most of our fishing. Am I making an incorrect connection? There was a caddis hatch almost every evening we were there so I suppose it might resemble another nymph instead of a snail. Any insights would be greatly appreciated.
Trout among other fish do eat snails. I would think that freshwater shrimp and crustaceans or scuds would pass for snail imitations to most fish as well as its namesake. Maybe sometimes we should call scuds “snails” 
. Shellcrackers (Redear Sunfish) most definately eat scuds/snails.
Shellcracker Feeding Habits from the FWC:
Redears are opportunistic bottom feeders, foraging mainly during daylight hours on a variety of invertebrates. Important food items include snails and clams which are crushed by grinding teeth in the throat; larval insects, fish eggs, small fish, and crustaceans. In some areas snails may be secondary to insects as a food preference.
Here’s a snail pattern (link) that I never have gotten the hang of tying yet but it looks good anyway:
Rainy’s Snail [url=http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw/92198fotw.html:b34e0]http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw/92198fotw.html[/url:b34e0]
Robert B. McCorquodale
Sebring, FL
“Flip a fly”
Hello RL,
No doubt many fish make snails a part
of their diet. As was mentioned, it is an
important dietary choice of my favorite
red eared sunfish. But it has been my
experience that extreme patience is an
important facit to fishing snail patterns.
May differ for others or other fisheries,
but I much prefer to fish scuds. Warm
regards, Jim
Hi all,
I know that the inclusion of snails of at least three varieties, freshwater clams, crayfish, as well as daphnia were all highly recommended when we built and stocked our pond in WVa. The daphnia are pinhead size crustaceans that are essential to pondlife.
Supposedly these items all proliferate in a healthy pond. As far as aquatic life in streams,creeks and rivers, crustaceans are part of the fishes daily diet and I would assume that trout also partake of the same food source. I know for sure that Larry Tullis has authored several articles in Fly Fisherman Magazine on the subject of Daphnia and its importance as a food source for trout.
Question; How do you retrieve a snail fly?
Answer; Reeeeaaaaaaalllllll ssssssssllllllooooooooowwwwww
Don’t know about rivers etc, but a floating snail pattern works well on still waters at times in the UK. Snails have a tendancy to float to the surface from time to time, and the trout just head and tail them off the surface.
Born to fish, forced to work.
[This message has been edited by Garic (edited 27 October 2005).]
Thanks for all the great info. That’s what I love about this place. I think I’m going to try to tie the Rainy’s Snail in a weighted version. Maybe wrap some fine lead around the shank before mounting it. I think the foam might keep the fly to high and it seemed like they were picking it up off the bottom or real close too it. Thanks again!
Matt
Hi Matt,
Good luck with your fish escargot
experiments. Would be interested in hearing
the results. Warm regards, Jim
Way back when… The San Juan used to contain trout so big that they rattled - snails at one time were the main forage for trout in the SJ and they used to grow large. The patterned used to imitate them was and still is a double hackle peacock. Still a good pattarn on many of the area’s streams and lakes. Of course, now there is a “new” pattern on the SJ which is…
Aquatic snails are one of the staple foods for Aussie Trout, especially in the colder months, they feed on them at all depths, even tailing on them in the extreme shallows only centremeters deep. When the fish are tailing on snails you can easily track there movement, as there tails of dorsal fins are usually waving in the air, the best method in to cast your imitation in the fishes path and let him work on to it.