In this video, Simon ties a simple, but effective ant pattern. As summer progresses into fall, ants become more and more of a staple in trout’s diets. This is especially pertinent on small streams, spring creeks, and high alpine lakes. On small streams, terrestrial insects make up over 50% of a trouts diet in the summer. This means ants are on the menu, the brusher the banks and the more narrow the stream, the more important land based insects are to sustaining these trouts. On alpine lakes, ants are notoriously on the menu for trout. This is especially true for lakes with significant amounts of dead and downed logs on the banks. These are hot spots for terrestrials, and often trout hold near this structure and pick off ants that end up in the water. This ant is simple, buoyant, and uses few materials. It casts a realistic profile in the water featuring three body segments. It is small so feel free to add some Fulling Mill Ultra Dry Yarn in Pink or Orange or Montana Fly Co Widows Web in bright color for visibility. If you want to add a hi-vis spot after the fact, the Scientific Anglers Indicator Markers work great for on-the-go visibility. Feel free to size this up or down, tying it up in brown for a cinnamon ant would be great too!
Hook- Ahrex Short Nymph FW562: Size 14
Thread- Semperfli Nanosilk: Black
Body- Hareline 2mm Hi Float Foam: Black
