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What Are They Taking?
A guide to insects and fly patterns of interest for fly fishers on Boulder Mountain.
Whenever we travel to new places to fly fish, we are always wondering what flies to bring along for that particular geographical area. We ask our local fly shops which patterns to pick up or tie for the trip. They as merchants, are only too happy to sell us a myriad of patterns in a variety of sizes for places that they, themselves have probably never been remotely close to, let alone fished. We asked, and after all, they are in the business of selling flies…. That redundant process is usually how most fly fishers end up with so many odd and assorted flies in their boxes. So how do you find out what the trout are taking before you go? Do you call ahead and ask a local guide, even though you are not planning to use a local guide service? Most fly fishing guides are not overly anxious to spill the beans on their tried and true patterns to just anyone who happens to call searching for free information. I for one have never been known for using an economy of words in anything that I try to describe, but when it comes to these trade secrets I will usually dispense some relevant entomology and pattern guidelines, but with an economy of words.
When it comes to Boulder Mountain stillwater flies and tactics, there are only a few categories that need consideration here, and it is those few insects and patterns that will be highlighted. Whether you are fishing from a floattube, pontoon boat or other craft, or are fishing from shore and or wading, the best thing that you can do is to come prepared. Sounds like patent advice. But that doesn’t mean that you should be a walking fly shop, just adequately prepared. You will need a 5-7 weight 9 or even 10 foot rod or rods, a floating line, a moderately fast sink tip, and perhaps even a clear intermediate sinking line. I find that a loop to loop detachable sink tip saves space and serves the intended purpose of changing to the sink tip most of the time. When I feel the need to fish deep I can simply pull out the sink tip which is typically a 10 foot piece of full sink line with loop connections on at least one end, that matches or is at least close to matching the weight of floating line that I am using and attach it to the end of my floating line with the loop to loop handshake connection. At this point a tapered leader needs to be attached to the other end of the sink tip. A word of caution here….you do not need such a long leader as you were previously using when you were casting the floating line and the dry or small nymph on the surface. A short tapered leader 7.5 feet or even shorter will suffice. This particular set up will work nicely for several Boulder Mountain stillwater patterns. When trout are deep and refusing to come up to the surface, then you will need to accommodate them and fish deep. It is just that simple!
Leeches! Those disgusting creatures that make you cringe just thinking about them exist in virtually every lake and pond on this mountain. Trout don’t cringe, they eat them. If a leech is swimming and a trout spots it, the trout will not hesitate for a second. They simply react to the natural undulating motion of the real leech stretched out ribbon like swimming before them. When a leech is swimming, it is long and thin. But when the leech feels threatened, it will contract it’s body into a tight ball whereupon it instantly sinks. This is the leech’s natural escape mechanism. The trout, and especially brook trout have adapted to this behavioral pattern in the leech with a behavioral pattern of their own. A brook trout will sometimes swirl around and even swat at the leech with their tails, causing the leech to ball up and sink. The brook trout then seizes the leech before it reaches the bottom. This does not mean that just because you are fishing a leech pattern such as a Wooly Bugger that the brook trout are going to instantly grab it as soon as it hit’s the water. They are smarter than that. The difference between any attempt that you make to impart the gentle undulating motion of the natural and the gentle undulating motion of the real natural is usually like night and day! When they are in the mood though, and that is quite often with these big brookies, fishing a leech can be very productive.
Leeches are members of the Phylum Annelida which also includes the Oligochaetes (aquatic blackworms, terrestrial earthworms). Leeches move about by attaching and detaching suckers on each end of their bodies. This movement is much like that of an inch worm. When swimming they will stretch out and flatten their bodies and move through the water like an undulating ribbon. The leech’s natural prey includes scuds and a variety of invertebrates that it locates from vibrations. Their list of viable prey would also include any warm blooded creature that happens to be swimming or wading in their environ.
The term warm blooded creature refers specifically to any angler foolish enough to go wading without the protection afforded by breathable chest waders. If you do fail to heed this warning and fall to the temptation to wade or swim in the lakes or beaver ponds on the Boulder Mountain, you will undoubtedly have an opportunity to discover the techniques used in removing leeches from your body. If you were to just dive in and refresh yourself by swimming about for a few seconds or even several minutes, you will probably emerge with no leeches on you. But stand there up to your thighs or worse yet, your waste and above while you are fly fishing for longer periods of time, 30 minutes or more without the protection of waders, and no doubt about it, you and the leech and or many leeches will become one!
Having a good variety of leech patterns and sizes as well as a varied color selection will almost always pay off. Once you have found the pattern that they want, and the trout are after it on nearly every cast you will begin to hook them regularly. At some point after catching and releasing many brook trout on the leech pattern, you begin to take notice of having hooked several near the tail. One or two hooked this way does not seem so odd, but six or eight out of maybe two dozen fish caught? That is a high percentile that are foul hooked in or very near the tail! When you consider the leech’s natural defense mechanism of balling up and sinking rapidly to the bottom, and the brook trout’s adaptability to this trait…..well, it is not too difficult to imagine what is happening. If you fish leech patterns for brook trout in stillwater from the shoreline or when wading near the shoreline in clear water, and most of the Boulder Mountain lakes are very clear, you will eventually observe the brook trout swirl around your Wooly Bugger or swat at it with their tail and even become hooked. It will eventually happen.
Various streamers like Wooly Buggers, Bunny Hair Leeches, Clouser Minnows, Zonkers, Muddler Minnows etc.. will all produce strikes from big brookies, tiger trout and cutthroat in the lakes and ponds of Boulder Mountain. But what else besides these leech patterns should you put in your Boulder box?
Damselflies and dragonflies are always present at every lake on the Boulder Mountain. Dragonflies are usually seen flying around, although in sparse numbers. The dragonfly nymphs are an important food source for trout here. Trout pick these big nymphs from the weeds anytime they have the opportunity. You should have an assortment of dragonfly nymphs in your box.
These big weighted nymphs will prove their worth while sight fishing to any big brook trout or tiger trout that you happen to spot holding tight to the bottom under floating logs, along deep shoreline areas such as old beaver tunnels and beaver slides. Dropping a weighted dragonfly nymph in front of a suspended brookie or tiger will often bring a sudden strike when previous offerings were snubbed.
Damselflies are always present in far greater numbers than dragonflies. The damselfly hatches on particular Boulder Mountain lakes can be very intense. Even though you will see these insects floating across the lakes and ponds in a breeze like blue clouds, the trout are not rising for them much. That is because the trout are taking these insects before they are on the wing and the familiar blue color.
Adult damselflies [usually blue] do land on the water often and will ride piggyback both in the air and on the water, especially when they are mating. Adult damselflies will also land on top of struggling immature damselflies that have been blown back into the water by the wind. It is at this time that trout will rise up and take them from the surface. For that reason there are many damselfly dry patterns available at fly shops.
Rainbows are known for their leaping, when they are hooked as well as when they are on the feed. They will often leap completely out of the water to snatch a hovering dragonfly or damselfly. Having these dries in your box is a prudent choice. However, the damselfly nymph is the pattern that you should focus on primarily for the lakes and ponds of the Boulder Mountain. Damselfly nymphs have become very popular among fly tiers in the last decade. There are literally hundreds of patterns out there, some very unique indeed. The best choice that you can make is the one that most closely imitates the natural, the local natural and the state of development that it is in at the time. Damselfly nymphs are always available to the trout. These insects are rather slow in developing and can take up to two years from egg to adult.
You will notice the metamorphosis of these nymphs as they crawl about on the grass, reeds, rocks and even you as you wade in the shallows. At this point they are not yet blue, but rather a light green as seen in the image above. Prior to this stage, as they are still swimming nymphs, they are often more of an olive to tan color. Having patterns that suggest these different stages of development is wise.
Always have a good number of damselfly nymphs, that is to say those patterns that imitate the swimming damselfly nymph like the nymph in the image above. Green, olive and even tan colors are fine, both weighted and slightly weighted. Slightly weighted can mean literally by virtue of the weight of the hook itself. Damselfly hooks are generally light wire hooks and quite small, size 12, 14 and the finished flies are also very light. But once saturated either with water or a bit of Zink or other sinking solution, they will sink just under the surface and even further when you pause your retrieve. There are many patterns that have a shell type back or topside and many more that are weighted. There are days here that you will wish you had brought 10 dozen damselfly nymphs. There are also those days here where you will swear up and down that you will never be caught without at least that number in your box again! Damselfly nymphs are that good….
Mayflies are of the insect order Ephemeroptera. The mayflies species on the Boulder Mountain lakes are not as diverse as on the local streams. There are some lakes and beaver ponds here that have small cascading spring fed streams running into them and small streams running out of them, and as such one could expect to observe various light hatches of Pale Morning Duns [PMD], Blue Wing Olive [BWO] and a few other species of mayflies on occasion. But the species of most concern here, and the one that you can nearly always count on is the Speckle Wing Quill, or Callibaetis. It seems that not a day goes by throughout the summer and into autumn that there isn’t some Callibaetis activity. Whenever cloud cover blocks the sun, these mayflies will emerge. They will suddenly begin popping to the surface and quickly attempt flight. I say attempt because few make it with all of the hungry trout rising for them. Hooking trout, and especially cutthroat trout [any subspecies] at this point requires nothing more than a dry fly outfit, meaning a floating line, long light leader [6X or lighter] and a nice accurate cast. The dry fly of choice could be the venerable Grizzly Adams or the old standby Parachute Adams in size 14-16. There are certainly countless other Callibaetis dries and cripples that will also work just fine at this time. The Mosquito dry in size 14-16 is also very good for these mayfly hatches. Successive hatches of Callibaetis throughout the season tend to produce smaller specimens with each hatch. If you are camping at one of these lakes, you will have the opportunity to see the Callibaetis spinner fall at or near dusk. They spend most of their time after emerging as duns in the spruce trees near the water. In the early evening they will leave the trees and form funnel like clouds, rising up and down as they mate in mid air. It is after this aerial mating that they land on the water and drop their eggs. At this point, they are spent and the trout will consume them all. If you are near the shoreline after dark on a calm night at one of these lakes or ponds, you may hear the trout rise to these Callibaetis spinners. If it is a bright moonlit night, you may even cast a spinner pattern such as a Rusty Spinner size 14-16 to them. During the day, having the ability to change out your lines or leaders and tippets at a moments notice or even having another rod rigged just for the purpose of casting the dry can be very convenient.
Various mayfly nymphs in several sizes and colors should also be in your box. Fishing these mayfly nymphs at varying depths will usually produce more trout more often that relying on dry fly action alone. It seems that more has been written about fishing mayfly emerger patterns, using clear intermediate sinking lines, for big trout than was ever written about using dry flies. However, if you are there on the shoreline, wading the shallows or in your floattube or pontoon boat and big trout are rising all around you, taking mayflies from the surface film, why would you not want to fish the dry fly over anything else? Watching large trout rise up and take your dry fly from the surface is the absolute ultimate experience in fly fishing!
Midge are of the insect order Diptera [flies]. Midges are by far and away the single most important food source overall for trout in stillwater everywhere. The Boulder Mountain lakes are no exception to that rule. When cloud cover prompts the Callibaetis to emerge, the midge are emerging as well. In fact, the trout will actually be feeding almost exclusively on the emerging midge with the occasional mayfly being taken by them. The image below illustrates how a hungry trout might get one of each in just one bite!
This will account for most of the emerging mayflies being consumed by the trout. But the only thing that could be causing the trout’s belly to expand so quickly are the hundreds and even thousands of emerging midge that they are consuming. Chironomid patterns vary widely, and there is no one magic bullet for the Boulder Mountain Lakes. Midge species also vary widely here. Green Phantom midge are present much of the time. There are times in late June and early July when micro sized Black midge, so small that they defy any size logic are forming huge dense clouds over the water. These tiny adult insects will pile up several inches deep like black snow in the grass along the shoreline. These midge do not bite, but can be very annoying as they are always in your face, down your throat, up your nose and will stick to your skin wherever you have applied oily based bug repellent and sunscreen. Being truly prepared means having the forethought to bring along a head net, available at any sporting goods store for under two bucks. You would think that all the trout would have to do is to cruise the grassy edges with their mouths open and scoop in a days worth of food in one or two bites and be done with it. But nature works in mysterious ways. They will still continue to take them one or two at a time just under the surface. And that is exactly where you will want to fish your nymph, just under the surface. Whichever pattern that you choose, fish it just like a dry, targeting and leading individual cruising trout.
When the clouds come overhead and block the sun, and you have on a floating line, 9-12 foot leader in 6-7X and a size 18-22 Zebra Midge, beadhead or regular, you are in for a treat. You can use any chironomid sub-surface imitation at this time, for this purpose. Conventional nymphs such as a Brassie in size 18-22 work fine most of the time. Remember to time the rise forms of individual cruisers and try to lead the fish by several feet with your cast and let them take your fly, but refrain from setting the hook. In fact, try not to actually set the hook. Remember that you are fishing with a 6,7 or even 8X tippet and these trout tend to run quite large, which by the way, is the primary reason that you are there in the first place. The trout will undoubtedly hook themselves just fine simply by eating your fly. All you need to do is raise the rod tip slightly just after the slurp. Then continue gently raising the rod tip until it is ¾ vertical as you play the big trout on that extremely small hook. Do not allow the trout to pull your rod tip down on the initial run but rather take out line against the preset drag. Be sure to set your drag reasonably loose, but with enough friction to wear down the trout after the successive runs that they will surely make. At no time during this fight should you attempt to adjust your drag! Use your palm drag to increase friction and slow down the trout’s run. Be ready for the trout to leap and time it so that you suddenly lower the rod at that moment in order to reduce the shock on the fragile tippet. Because chironomids are so small and tippets for these patterns need to be so light, many fish and flies are lost. This problem causes many seasoned fly fishers to shy away from using these patterns and their associated ultra light tippet techniques. But when you can clearly see that these big cutthroats, tiger trout and brookies are most definitely taking emerging midge just under the surface, it is time to switch to these proven techniques. After you break off several of the biggest cutthroat that you have ever seen on the hook set and several on the jump, you will begin to settle down and finally get the hang of it.
Caddisflies are of the insect order Trichoptera. Caddisflies are not as prolific in the lakes and ponds of the Boulder Mountain as they are in the streams of the surrounding area, but they are an important food source for trout, and an equally important fly pattern for fly fishers here none the less. You will never see clouds of caddisflies at these lakes. You will however, see them as singles quite regularly from mid summer through autumn. I am sure that caddis will hatch at these high elevations to some degree prior to mid summer, but typically angler access to many of these waters does not even begin to open up until the first part of June. Once again, caddisflies are considered by most fly fishers to be an insect that is mostly seen on lower elevation streams. You usually don’t see many caddis at these higher elevations other than one or two species, and in sparse hatches. The caddisfly that is most prevalent at the lakes of Boulder Mountain is a rather large tan caddisfly known as the Bettens Silver Streak [Grammotaulius bettenii]. If you notice the rocks that are all along the shoreline where you will be fishing, you will observe that the submerged, usually flattened, fractured basalt rocks are extending out into the lake as far as you can see. Reach down and turn over one of the larger submerged rocks at your feet. More often than not, it will be encrusted on the bottom side with caddis cases like the rock in the image below.
These cases contain the pupa of the Bettens Silver Streak, so named for the thin silver line that runs down the side of the adult’s wings. This adult caddis can often be seen fluttering near the surface of the water and in the grass along the shoreline.
Just be patient and you will soon have the opportunity to snatch one of the newly emerged adults from the grass or even from your hat brim or shirt sleeve. At this point, upon closer examination, you will notice that the perfect imitation of this adult caddisfly is the Goddard Caddis dry size 12-14. Other caddis dries such as an Elk Hair size 12-14 will also work fine. Caddis dries with long antennae such as the Goddard are preferable. It is advisable to always buy or tie your caddis dries with these long antennae. It is the long antennae of the caddis fly that immediately sets it apart visually from the ordinary small moth or even the spruce moth. When have you ever observed adult caddis without these antennae? Slightly weighted caddis pupa patterns such as the chamois or buckskin type are extremely effective fished below the surface and near the bottom. Many other caddis pupa patterns also work well here.
When you carefully pick apart some of these caddis cases that you have retrieved from the rocks, you will notice the green hue of the pupae. When you are not so careful you will really notice the green hue! This green coloration is an obvious clue as you peer into your fly box searching for an appropriate fly. Perhaps a Zug Bug, beadhead or regular will do the trick. You will notice that the chamois and buckskin type of caddis pupae patterns usually have some green peacock herl at the head. Many of the sparkle back and glass bead type of caddis pupae patterns also incorporate some green color.
Finally, a word about scuds. Scuds are of the class Crustacea, and the order Amphipoda. Scuds are ubiquitous on the Boulder Mountain. They are present in nearly every lake or pond in the area and even the high elevation remote lakes of the Aquarius Plateau. The scuds found in the lakes and beaver ponds of the Boulder Mountain are primarily Gammarus fasciatus. These scuds grow quite large here and most are over ½ inch with many reaching ¾ inch in length.
These little crustaceans are everywhere! Population densities are so intense in some waters that the trout there are as fat as footballs! When scuds are occupying virtually every square inch of the water column it is difficult to imagine how trout will spot your fly among all the naturals. They do manage to though and having a good assortment of scuds in a wide variety of patterns, sizes and colors will pay off at some point should you find yourself in a situation where the trout are being particular and feeding primarily on scuds. It does happen, even here. The trout eat so many of these scuds that the orange color of their flesh can be attributed to the high carotene content in the scuds and other insects. The image below shows the items pumped from the stomach of just one mature brook trout caught mid-morning from a small lake on Boulder Mountain. Considering the reasonably good condition these bugs were in at the time they could not have been in the trout's stomach for very long. This would indicate just how busy this brookie was that morning. The odd thing is that for all the variety that you see here, there was not even one scud in the bunch, yet there were scuds visable everywhere in the lake.
This narrative is merely a brief description of the myriad of patterns imitating the numerous insects that inhabit the lakes and ponds of the Boulder Mountain. I have not even begun to describe the many terrestrial insects such as grasshoppers, beetles, pine sawyers, ants and termites that inhabit these places, just the basics. There are certainly many more fly patterns as well as the techniques used to fish them to consider, than what I have mentioned here. I have also left out any real discussion of the fantastic small streams of this area and the insects that inhabit those waters. Any in depth discussion about stream born insects would be much more complex and require more space than this article could provide. I will write a separate article describing in limited detail what the trout are taking in the streams of the area. I am providing this small bit of information on the lakes so that you might circumvent much of the timeframe that I have spanned over the past forty years of fly fishing throughout Utah and much of the western states, acquiring the knowledge that I now use as a fly fishing guide here. After twentyfive years here, I have learned much about the flora and fauna of this mountain and also much about the behavioral patterns of the trout, wild and stocked of the area, both on and around this mountain and the area surrounding it. This acquired knowledge serves as an valuable tool that I use and add to daily as a guide. Much time and effort goes into the necessary R&D to acquire and garner that knowledge. Also suffice it to say, that much personal fun and entertainment is subsequently gleaned from that R&D. It is through the guided trip over one or more days that I am often able to impart a substantial amount of this acquired knowledge to my guests. Like all fly fishing guides, I am a teacher as much as a guide. What anyone is able to take home with them from a day or two on the water with a confident and competent fly fishing guide is due as much to their ability to receive and absorb as it is to the guide’s ability to project and to teach. And so it is with myself. I cannot help but to point out what appears as obvious to me but may not be so obvious to someone who has never fly fished or has never been here. What you can learn in one day on a guided trip can add significantly to your skill level and techniques.
When time is of the essence, and you want to learn where to go and how to do it, then hiring a guide is the economically sensible thing to do. If you would like to book a guided trip to fly fish for beautiful wild trout this season, keep in mind that space is definitely limited and plan on booking early.
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