Hook Size: 16/18
The Perfect Fly Needle Stonefly adult is the fully grown stage of life of the stonefly. It emerges from the nymph on the banks of the stream on rocks that protrude out of the water. The females return to the water late in the day to deposit their eggs and that is when trout dine on the adults. Fish the fly in the early afternoons until late in the day near the same water they emerged from. Floatant should be used on the dry fly.
The adults deposit their eggs during the day usually in the afternoons and
probably during the evenings. Fishing an imitation of the eggs layers is almost
like fishing a mayfly dun or spinner. You can use a larger imitation than the
adults because they are always fluttering just above the surface and actually
touch the surface with their wings still fluttering.
There is an amazing difference in the way these stoneflies look flying than they
do when they are not flying. They look much like caddisflies in the air but as you
can see, they are very narrow and long, tiny flies that remotely resemble pine
needles. Flying they look much larger than they actually are. We suspect many
anglers think these stoneflies are caddisflies and a caddisfly imitation may very
well work for the ovipositing females.
Even though these are sometimes called “Black Rolled Winged Stoneflies”, they
are mostly dark brown. We have been able to catch trout imitating the egg
layers every time we have tried. It is common to see trout eating them on the
surface in the fall months. It seems most of the activity is in the high elevation
streams although you will find them everywhere there is fast water.
