We conserve, Protect and Sustain our Coldwater Natural Resources
Alarka Spring 2017
Ants in my pants ...............
Harrop's Flying Ant
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Resin Black Ant
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Fly of the Month
Fly fishing during the dog days of summer tend to be a challenge. Water temperatures in the Southern Appalachians in our headwater streams are marginally high for trout. On many of our lower elevation Delayed Harvest Stream the water temperatures reach the high 70s and in places over 80 degrees and trout must seek any cooler, deeper hides or risk suffocation due to a lack of sufficient dissolved oxygen.
With warmer water temperature and low dissolved oxygen, aquatic insect activity slows down to bottom survival of the nymph stage and a rarity of any type of hatch. The primary aquatic insect hatch during the early summer are little yellow and little green stoneflies in the afternoon and golden stoneflies during the night. The most abundant insects all summer for trout are terrestrials and specifically ants and beetles.
Black Ant
The absolute, number one, easy to tie terrestrial that an angler should carry in the fly box at all times is the black ant. Ants are everywhere and in good numbers. Worker ants are hunters and gatherers that travel the streambanks foraging for food to return back to the nest of their large social family. Wind, rain and accidents sweep ants into the trout stream where trout will readily take them for a high protein supplement, especially in the dog days of summer when most other insects are scarce.
There are thousands of species and eighteen categories of ants world-wide. These categories are a layman’s view of groups of ants based on their odd behaviors and interesting adaptations: Citronella, Field, Carpenter, Thief, Fire, Harvester, Amazon, Leafcutter, Crazy, Odorous House, Honeypot, Army, Bullet, Acacia, Pharaoh, Trap Jaw, Acrobat and Weaver. These category names provide a hint as to their claim to fame, for example Thief Ants tend to be the very tiny “piss ants” that appear at your picnic, attempting to rob you of your food. For the most part, anglers encounter Field, Carpenter, Fire, Harvester and Acrobat ants near and around streams. Yes, there are actually North American native species of Fire ants in which most tend to be red cinnamon or brown in color. Harvester ants may be brown, gray, cream or even yellow in color. Acrobat ants are typically black with a heart shaped abdomen that gets raised when threated. Many species of black ants have similar species that are brown in color, but black is the most dominate of ant colors. Overall the Field Formicidae family and Carpenter Camponotus genus ants are the most predominant along a stream bank.
Fly fishing during the dog days of summer tend to be a challenge. Water temperatures in the Southern Appalachians in our headwater streams are marginally high for trout. On many of our lower elevation Delayed Harvest Stream the water temperatures reach the high 70s and in places over 80 degrees and trout must seek any cooler, deeper hides or risk suffocation due to a lack of sufficient dissolved oxygen.
With warmer water temperature and low dissolved oxygen, aquatic insect activity slows down to bottom survival of the nymph stage and a rarity of any type of hatch. The primary aquatic insect hatch during the early summer are little yellow and little green stoneflies in the afternoon and golden stoneflies during the night. The most abundant insects all summer for trout are terrestrials and specifically ants and beetles.
Black Ant
The absolute, number one, easy to tie terrestrial that an angler should carry in the fly box at all times is the black ant. Ants are everywhere and in good numbers. Worker ants are hunters and gatherers that travel the streambanks foraging for food to return back to the nest of their large social family. Wind, rain and accidents sweep ants into the trout stream where trout will readily take them for a high protein supplement, especially in the dog days of summer when most other insects are scarce.
There are thousands of species and eighteen categories of ants world-wide. These categories are a layman’s view of groups of ants based on their odd behaviors and interesting adaptations: Citronella, Field, Carpenter, Thief, Fire, Harvester, Amazon, Leafcutter, Crazy, Odorous House, Honeypot, Army, Bullet, Acacia, Pharaoh, Trap Jaw, Acrobat and Weaver. These category names provide a hint as to their claim to fame, for example Thief Ants tend to be the very tiny “piss ants” that appear at your picnic, attempting to rob you of your food. For the most part, anglers encounter Field, Carpenter, Fire, Harvester and Acrobat ants near and around streams. Yes, there are actually North American native species of Fire ants in which most tend to be red cinnamon or brown in color. Harvester ants may be brown, gray, cream or even yellow in color. Acrobat ants are typically black with a heart shaped abdomen that gets raised when threated. Many species of black ants have similar species that are brown in color, but black is the most dominate of ant colors. Overall the Field Formicidae family and Carpenter Camponotus genus ants are the most predominant along a stream bank.
Some of our Friends of Rocky River and how the night went...
Thanks to everyone who was able to attend and an even greater thanks to the good folks making donations to build our chapter for another year !!!
Thanks to Dana Hershey and George Fleszar for the photos
Alarka fall 2016 :
and a good time was had by all.......
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