Posted by Jim E (69.92.166.54) on January 27, 2005 at 15:08:35:
Other aquatic insects
In last week’s tip, I stated my estimated, non-scientific percentages of how much of the time different insect’s lifecycles are available to the fish. Those figures were for the insects that have 4-5 lifecycle stages, namely: mayflies, caddis, midges and stoneflies (what few are present in the LMF). All of these either have a larva or nymph stage that is the longest of their lifecycles, thus my giving them the availability to the fish 70% of the time. This also tells us that fishing under the surface and more often along the bottom would give more opportunities to catch fish. (Imagine that, fish living under water.) So, with that said, let’s explore what other insects and forage might be present for the fish’s dinner.
Crustaceans make up a lot of the other insects found lurking the river’s bottom. These would be sowbugs or cress bugs, scuds (a.k.a. freshwater shrimp) and crawdads. Sowbugs remarkably resemble the rolly pollies that we all played with as kids. They have a hard, segmented shellback and multiple pairs of legs living their entire life in that same adult form.
They are fairly prevailent in the LMF but unfortantly they never reach much of a size. I’ve seen and collected samples from some of the Arkansas trout rivers where specimens reach to almost an inch long. By far the biggest specimen I’ve collected from the LMF was only 3/8 of an inch in length. The same holds true for scuds.
(this specimen was full of eggs)
Scuds are pretty common in the LMF but usually need some sort of vegetation to survive. Unlike sowbugs, scuds can swim and swim quite well. But once again, they are pretty small compared to ones found in other rivers. Many believe these two insects account for much of the health, size and weight of the trout found in Arkansas’ big three.
Both of these insects are found year around but can be the most sought out food source for the trout during the insects mating times because of their heightened movement and activity.
Crawdads will round out the crustaceans and most of us already know that they are a seasonal insect, mostly hibernating during the colder months. Only the smaller ones will benefit the trout since a trout’s mouth is only so big and some crawdads get bigger.
Other seasonal nymph stage insects would be dragonflies and dobsonflies (hellgrammites). Throw in leeches, the occasional water boatman, minnows (including the ugly creek chub), a few darters and that pretty well rounds out the most available food items that are worth mentioning. At times daphnia, water pennies, washed through lake shad etc. might be important but these are hardly anything to count on.
A well-rounded fly fisherman should be prepared for any fishing situation but more often than not, nymphing has the most potential in getting you face to face with your quarry.
Thanks for reading and comment as you like. Especially if I left something out !!
Jim Enns <*;))))))))))))))><