We hope you find the following information useful. We belive a good knowledge of the trouts natural diet will assist you when choosing an artificial for any occasion.

Corixa (Water boatman)

If you look into the water of virtually any stillwater you will notice the small beetle-like creatures forever rising to the top only shoot back to the bottom in the wink of an eye. These are not beetles but the Corixa. They are abundant in most stillwater from the smallest pond to the largest lakes and reservoirs, they are an important food source for the trout and must not be ignored by the angler.

At close range the Corixa is a striking creature, its back is beautifully marked with dark brown or black dashes with bands of gold. It’s air supply (A small bubble on the underside of its abdomen) when at full capacity looks like a bead of mercury held between the legs.

There are quite a few different species of Corixa, but their colour and markings are very similar, so we do not need to go to great lengths to imitate all the species. They do vary a little in size ranging from about 5mm to over 10mm, though the larger species tend to be less abundant. The most common and one usually imitated is about 7mm.

Chironomids

Although quite an insignificant looking creature, the chironomid or non-biting midge is certainly the most important of insects to the stillwater fly fisher. It is difficult to overstate the importance of an insect that in various stages provides by far the greatest proportion of the diet of the stillwater trout.

The Chrionomidae family is a large one, up to the present some 450 separate species have been identified in this country alone. Luckily for the angler this wide variety of species can be virtually ignored by categorising the species into colour and size, then imitations can be tied to match a wide variety of the Chrionomidae family.

The size range of theses insects may be anything from a mere speck right up to a meaty specimen of nearly an inch long. The average length seems to be around 6-13mm.

Daphnia

On stillwaters there is one creature which though a major food source, is impossible to imitate. This is the animal plankton Daphnia, they are impossible to imitate because of their small size. The largest found in Britain is little more than 3mm in diameter. Their incalculable numbers make them a popular food source.

It is often said how difficult it is to catch Daphnia feeding trout, but nothing could be further from the truth. Daphnia feeding trout are a superb example of the type of thoughtful approach needed by lure fishers. There is no point whatsoever trying to imitate the Daphnia, simply use a size 6-8 longshank lure, tied in either white, black, green or orange.

Daphnia blooms are not only pushed around by wind and currents, they don’t like bright sunshine so they sink to deeper to avoid sunlight. In the morning they will be near the surface, sinking deeper as the sun rises. When trout are taking Daphnia they follow the blooms this means anglers must alter the depth at which they are fishing until they hit fish.

The Olives

Although not quite of the same degree of importance to the fly fisher as the Chironomids, the various members of the Order Ephemeroptera or as they are sometimes known the upwinged flies play a significant role during a typical season in stillwater.

Crane Fly

There are a number of insects eaten by trout that are not aquatic in origin. These terrestrial insects get blown onto the water or sometimes land there under there own steam. One such fly is the Crane Fly, a large insect known more commonly as the Daddy Longlegs. There is hardly a person, let alone a fly fisherman, who has never seen a Crane Fly.

They belong to a family called Tipulidae, which is very large, containing more than 300 species in Britain alone. In this family species vary considerably both in size and colour. This in fact affects anglers very little. Like so many insects we have come across in fly fishing the various species are similar and therefore only warrant a handful of artificials.

Dapping is not only very effective, but is also very exciting. Use a rod in excess of 12ft and, instead of a normal fly line use about 6ft of dapping floss. Instead of casting as normal, simply allow the wind to catch the floss and blow it out (It is much easier on a boat). You need about a 3-4ft leader, as the floss doesn’t touch the water until you hook a fish.

Fry Feeding Trout

Most stillwaters contain a level of coarse fish, whilst regarded as a nuisance competing for food with the trout, they themselves make up a high proportion of the trout’s diet especially in large reservoirs.

When the trout are on fry they often become preoccupied and if you don’t have the right pattern to imitate the particular fry the fish are eating then you may well go home fishless. When trout get to a particular stage when feeding on fry they become very selective and to be successful you too must be selective with your choice of lure. The main factors are size, colour and action.

When the fry are very young most species are transparent and plain. This again means you do not need a whole range of patterns to cover many species, just the odd one or two.

Shrimp & Hoglice

Trout anglers often neglect a whole host of small aquatic creatures. Two such creatures are the fresh water shrimp and the hoglouse, both are taken in large numbers at particular times of the year.

Both creatures are crustaceans rather than insects, this is quite easily recognised by the fact they have many more legs than insects that have six.

The most common of the two to turn up when spooning a fish is the shrimp. This is not because it is more abundant, it is more to do with the fact that the shrimp forever scuttles about amongst the weeds. The hoglouse on the other hand moves rather slowly and tends to keep itself concealed beneath the rubbish on the lake’s bed.

There are few species of shrimp in Britain, The most common of which is probably the Gammarus pulex. The adult Gammarus ranges from 10-20mm.

Dragon & Damsel Flies

One of the most striking and spectacular insects to be encountered by an angler are dragon and damsel flies. With their beautifully iridescent bodies and translucent glistening wings.

They both belong to the Order Odonata. Both are similar in form although there are some distinct differences. Dragon flies have two pairs of wings which are unequal in length and held open when the insect is at rest. Although the dragon fly is a very conspicuous creature it is fairly scarce and therefore low on the trout’s menu. Therefore we have to move to their cousins to find a more effective species to imitate.

The damsel fly can be distinguished by their much finer bodies and the fact their wings are of equal length and are held pressed when the insect is at rest. The adult winged form of the insect is only taken on very occasionally. The nymphs on the other hand are quite are high on the trout’s menu.

The Sedges

The first sedge hatch of the season tells when summer has truly arrived. Bobbing and weaving in small groups above the bankside vegetation the sedges or caddis flies are an unmistakable sight. There is little more reassuring in stillwater trout fishing than to sit on the bank and observe the start of a sedge hatch, confident in the knowledge of things to come.

In Britain there are a great many species of sedges but a large proportion of these are either too small or too rare to worry about. The sedges belong to the Order Trichoptera, and in general their appearance resembles that of moths. This is not total coincidence as they are closely related to certain moth families, but there are very specific differences. Firstly, even though both moths and sedges have four wings, in the moths case these are covered in very tiny scales whilst those of the sedge are endowed with tiny hairs.

Phantom Midge

There are a number of creatures which, though they are relatively small food forms, crop up in autopsies from time to time. For this reason they can never be totally ignored. One very good example of such an organism is the phantom midge, which can be an important food item on many smaller stillwaters. The Phantom Midge is closely related to the Chironomid midge, which it resembles closely in adult form. The Phantom Midge’s season is a great deal shorter than the Chironomid’s, it will be found between May and August.

There are very few species belonging to the genus Chaoborus to which the Phantom Midge belongs. The most common species is Chaoborus flavicans. The adult insects are around 4-5mm in length and vary from a pale green in the females, to a greyish hue in the males.

Leeches

It could never be said that the leech is as important as the Chironomid, but on numerous occasions trout with stomachs full of big dark brown and black specimens have been found. The curious thing is, these fish are usually large brown trout. The only possible reason for this, is that as these browns feed more on the bottom more than rainbows, they pick up the leeches in deep water.

These big black leeches live in the rubbish on the lake’s bed, feeding on soft bodied creatures and decaying organic material.

Caenis

These very small upwinged flies offer the stillwater fly fisher no end of problems. There are a number of Caenis species to be found on stillwater but Caenis horaria and Caenis robusta are probably the most common. The different species are so similar they may be treated as one.

Caenis are the smallest members of the Order Empheroptera. In fact they have an average abdomen length of only 4mm. They are also very easy to identify, being the only Empheropteran to combine a lack of hindwings with three tails. They range from an ivory to a greyish cream, and the wings are rather broad in comparison to their length.