Parachute Ant

[Chase Replogle]

I was reading in a book the other day about tying winged ants with their wings on the side. The theory is that when a winged ant dies in the water it actually floats on its side.

I know winged ant flies work well but I was curious to give this a try. I'll have to tie some up.

Anyone heard or tried it before?

Chase

[3wt]

I was reading in a book the other day about tying winged ants with their wings on the side. The theory is that when a winged ant dies in the water it actually floats on its side.

I know winged ant flies work well but I was curious to give this a try. I'll have to tie some up.

Anyone heard or tried it before?

Chase

Sounds reasonable. I would think that if the fish are actually looking for a terestrial, then some of the rules of normal dry flies shouldn't apply. Laying on the side could be acceptable, movement would be a good thing, partial sinking maybe not so bad too.

As to sinking flies: try dry fly dubbing if not foam, it's much less absorbant. Also use dry fly hackle, cheap hackle doesn't work as well. At any rate use floatant, and learn to dry a fly off by casting it a little. I thin a little sinking would be okay. And if you treat the post w/floatant you'll probably get a semi-sunk presentation that may work well.