Understanding anything in life comes about more often than not through a serendipitous combination of experimentation and luck. And that's just what opened up a new view of damselflies for me, while adding a few months of productive fishing to my season as well.
Working damselfly (Odonata) nymphs along shorelines and among weed beds during the height of summer seemed appropriate--a method that's normally quite effective in consistently taking good numbers of sizable trout. But the discovery that fishing damselfly nymphs from ice-out through freeze-up is productive on lakes and reservoirs in Montana (and other parts of the country) came as a surprise.
A small lake lying in a forest of larch not far from my home in northwest Montana was the scene of this revelation. A few days after the water opened up I was working the shoreline from a float tube with a variety of nymphs designed to imitate the abundant caddisfly population. When the insects began rising from the lake in swarms and the few rising trout ignored all of the dry patterns I cast, my frustration led me to my fly boxes.
This lake had always yielded sizable rainbows on damsel nymphs during July and August, but I wondered if these patterns would work in early April--the time of transition between winter and spring in the northern Rockies? After a long, dark winter devoid of the frenzied tug of a good trout, I was about to find out.
I chose an olive Kaufmann's Marabou Damsel, tied it to the end of a nine-foot leader tapered to 4X that was attached to a Teeny sink-tip line and made a cast toward the shore. Crawling the pattern along the bottom as slowly as possible, an 18-inch rainbow took it immediately. The trout slammed the nymph and started running directly towards the float tube.
When and Why
After landing and releasing the rainbow, and unwinding the fly line from my legs and the tube, some new questions came to mind. Chief among them were: Do trout feed on damsels with regularity in the spring? How about the fall? What triggers this feeding? Which retrieves and which patterns work best?
Tom Weaver, a fisheries biologist for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, provided most of the answers. The information applies to any body of water that holds damselflies and to a lesser extent, dragonflies.
"Fish root for the nymphs early in the year, they kick them loose from plant stems and the bottoms," said Weaver, "and, to some extent, they are keyed into them along the bottom all of the time."
Most of us are familiar with the electric, sky-blue, slender-body damsels that cruise just above the surface of a lake, often in great numbers. And many of us have seen the windrows of the dead insects piled up along shore, against downed trees or along weed beds, usually washed up by wind-driven wave action.
The temptation is to fish a dry pattern of the insect, and many attractive and inventive imitations are on the market. There are relatively straightforward reasons why these creative ties are largely ineffective, particularly when compared to the results turned in by nymph patterns.
Damsel Lifecycles
The majority of the damselfly's life is spent in a series of naiads or nymphal stages. And because they are present, and are moving about during the entire year, trout have learned to feed on them more or less constantly year round. This is a case of the fish taking advantage of a readily available food source.
These ugly nymphal creatures bear only passing resemblance to the beautiful airborne stages. The stout, chunky nymph is usually a subdued gray or greenish color. The body may be smooth or rough, with small spines, and is often covered with a growth of filamentous algae or debris. The naiads are commonly found on submerged vegetation and on the bottoms of reservoirs, ponds, lake shallows, and in quiet area of rivers and streams.
A one-year life cycle is normal, with substantial variations among species. There is often more than one generation per year, but at the other end of the damsel spectrum, some of the larger members may require more than four years to complete a life cycle. Much of this time is spent crawling along the bottom of the insect's habitat or up and down plant stems.
Odonata nymphs may be roughly classified into climbers, sprawlers, and burrowers. The first two types attract the most attention from trout. Most of the sprawlers have long legs and they are slow-moving, dull-color animals that occur on a variety lake bottom types.
Damselfly nymphs are most vulnerable to trout at two key times in their lives--when feeding or rising to the surface to hatch.
Although all Odonata nymphs are carnivorous, the methods of feeding vary. Some species carefully stalk their prey. Many of the burrowing forms remain motionless, waiting for food to come within reach. These may remain motionless for days at a time, which explains why this type of damselfly nymph is not high on a trout's list of things to eat. Very large nymphs can seize prey up to 25 mm (nearly one inch) away through a combination of labium (the lip-like structure of the nymph) action and a quick, forward-lurching movement.
While all of this information seems somewhat pedestrian in nature, it is the key to successfully enticing trout into striking a nymphal imitation.
Making Nymphs Work
Fishing damselfly nymphs successfully, especially early and late in the season, requires that the angler first get the imitation to the bottom and then carefully crawl the nymph back with a suitable retrieve. A weighted pattern and a sink-tip line are necessary to take fish with this technique. If repeated retrieves fail to turn a fish, the lurching, aggressive action just described above, should be imitated.
Even when trout rise and slash all around me as they feed on mayflies and caddis, if I can restrain myself from switching to a dry fly and carefully work the bottom with a damselfly nymph, I normally catch fish that are often larger than those taken on top.
"Once they (the fish) key into them (the bottom-dwelling nymphs), the trout really feed on them," adds Weaver, "and the action increases with water temperature."
The fact that damselfly nymphs are large and relatively easy to spot makes them a more attractive target for trout than the darting damselfly adults that fly swiftly above the lake's surface.
The techniques I've described work especially well in the spring and fall and they do take fish in the summer, but the best warm-weather approach mimics the damsels as they work to the surface and crawl out on aquatic vegetation or fixed objects.
Most Odonata emerge in the early morning or late afternoon with very few making the move during midday or during darkness.
"The prehatch ritual often includes distinct swimming movements that consist of two, three, or four trips from the bottom to surface and back down again before they are able to break the surface film and get into the air to fly off," said Weaver. "This is a perilous existence and the trout really hammer them at this time."
Imitating this motion is not difficult, and I have had the best results using a 12-foot leader tapered to a 3X tippet. Anything lighter than 3X and the hard takes of the trout will snap the tippet. Heavier tippets expose the fly as a fake. The leader length allows the fly to sink and permits a natural motion for the nymph.
Cast these weighted damselfly nymphs 40 to 50 feet and allow them to sink to the bottom. Then retrieve them with two- to four-inch strips. Continue stripping until the nymph reaches the surface. The sequence is something of an acquired rhythm that will vary slightly from lake to lake. A group of three or four strips followed by a brief rest for a couple of seconds and then a resumption of the retrieve has worked well for me in Montana. Experimentation will turn up the proper retrieve sequence for other areas.
Damsel Dupes
In my experience, there is not a single best fly pattern. Fished properly, they all work. I've had consistent results with Kaufmann's pattern along with those designed by A.K. Best, Hal Janssen, and Dave Whitlock. I've fished olive Woolly Worms, Zug Bugs, and Prince Nymphs in a damsel-like manner and taken trout that were feeding on the nymphal form of the species.
A fairly stiff nine-foot, six-weight rod provides sufficient lifting action to reduce casting effort without destroying the joy and sport of presenting the fly and playing a 12- to 15-inch trout. The setup will also handle any bigger fish that happen along.
As with any new technique, I am a confirmed skeptic until shown otherwise. The notion that working damselfly nymphs in mid-November would take trout seemed far-fetched until one autumn afternoon.
Fishing a small lake with Whitlock's pattern, carefully crawling the fly slowly along the bottom, turned up four rainbows up to 20 inches. All of this took place as a winter storm rolled in from the northwest. By the end of the outing several inches of snow had accumulated on the logging road where my truck was parked. The storm continued for another 12 hours and ended that year's fishing, but learning a little about the versatility of the damselfly nymph was one of the highlights of a very pleasant season.
From ice-out to first blizzard damselfly nymphs produce better than average trout. Add it to your database of trout tactics and extend your season.
DAMSELFLY NYMPH PATTERNS
Kaufmann's Marabou Damsel
Thread: Olive, 6/0
Hook: TMC200, size to match natural
Rib: Copper wire
Tail: Olive marabou
Body: Olive marabou
Wing: Olive marabou
Janssen Damsel
Thread: Olive
Hook: TMC300, sizes 10 to 12
Rib: Olive 6/0 thread
Tail: Pale golden-olive marabou
Back: Mottled brown turkey
Body: Medium olive dubbing
Wing case: Mottled brown turkey
Legs: Cree hackle palmered and clipped short
Thorax: Same as body
Dave's Damsel Nymph
Thread: Olive 6/0
Hook: 4XL, regular wire, turned-down eye
Weight: Six to 10 turns of lead wire on abdomen
Tail: Three fine ostrich herl tips or a bunch of very fine marabou
Rib: Fine gold wire
Abdomen: Sparkle dubbing
Thorax: Sparkle dubbing
Wing case: Swiss straw or turkey quill
Legs: Soft hen or grouse hackle
Eyes: Two connected beads of melted monofilament
Head: Sparkle yarn
Top of head: Swiss straw
A.K.'s Swimming Damsel
Thread: Olive 6/0
Hook: Tiemco Swimming Nymph, size to match natural
Rib: Fine copper wire
Tail: Clump of fine ostrich herl tips
Abdomen: Olive poly dubbing
Thorax: Olive poly dubbing
Wing case: Swiss straw
Eyes: Small black beads
Legs: Small clump of grizzly hackle
Copyright (c) 1996 John Holt. All rights reserved.
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