Hook Size: 16
The Perfect Fly Little Green Stonefly nymphs crawl out of the water to hatch in the mid to early afternoons and on into the evening. The hatch into adults on the banks or rocks, out of the water. You should fish the fly near the banks while they are hatching.
Some species lay their eggs during the daylight hours, usually in the afternoon,
but are much more prone to do so late or during the evening hours. Normally,
this activity is not that intense but could be on a given stream at a certain date in
time. If you observe any activity, you should certainly try the Perfect Fly Little
Green Stonefly adult imitation.
On more than one occasion we have found some rather very large hatches
where the egg layers were in full swing in the late afternoons during approaching
thunderstorms. We were able to catch several trout on an adult imitation on each
occasion in a very short time. Those particular hatches took place in mid June
two straight years in a row in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I am not
sure which species of Little Green Stonefly they were but I did note that they
were hatching in the moderately flowing water, not fast moving pocket water.
We also found them depositing their eggs during the afternoon in the Gardner
River in Yellowstone National Park as well as a few other western streams. Some
of the faster water sections of meadow streams in the high altitude have the Little
Green stoneflies.
Presentation:
I would suggest that you always carry at least a couple of Perfect Fly Little Green
Stonefly Adult imitations in case you encounter a hatch of these stoneflies. In
most cases, during the egg laying event, an up and across presentation of an
adult imitation works just fine. The problem many anglers have with these and
other stoneflies is they stop fishing too early in the afternoons. If you fish late in
the day you can often find the egg laying activity occurring when there’s still
plenty of light. A very cloudy or drizzling rainy afternoon is the best conditions to
find them depositing their eggs. The activity will start earlier in the afternoon and
last much longer while there is plenty of light left.
The type of presentation you make isn’t really that important. You just want to get
the fly in the same areas the Little Green Stoneflies are laying thier eggs. They
are easy to see and dart across the surface trying to knock the eggs off although
they also light on the water for a few seconds at times.
You an also fish during the evenings but doing so in a fast water freestone
stream caries its risk. Just be sure you pay close attention to what you’re doing
and especially if you wade.
Copyright 2013 James Marsh
