Hatches Made Easy:
Just in case you do not know, a terrestrial insect is one that is born on land and
spends all of its life on land, unless it accidentally falls or is blown into the water.
Terrestrial insects do
Hatches Made Easy:
Just in case you do not know, a terrestrial insect is one that is born on land and
spends all of its life on land, unless it accidentally falls or is blown into the water.
Terrestrial insects do hatch. They just don't hatch in the water. The Great
Smoky Mountains National Park has one of the largest and most diversified
populations of insects there are in the United States.
My guess and observations indicate that most of the terrestrial insects that get
into the water are ants and beetles. Most of those get into the trout streams as a
result of rains. Grasshoppers are common, of course, but not to the extent most
anglers would like to believe. Those areas where trout streams run through
open meadows or fields have the most grasshoppers.
Another terrestrial insect that often gets into the water is the moth. It is the
larvae stage of the moth that is most subject to falling in the water. The common
names for these moth larvae are Inchworms, loopers, measuring worms and
The terrestrial insects become important when the majority of the aquatic insect
hatches have ended. The trout have to search for anything that is eatable when
most of the nymphs and larvae either haven't hatched from eggs or are in their
first or second instar. The water is warm in the summer and the trout expend a
lot of energy acquiring the necessary food to exist. It is possible for them to
expend more energy than they take in during the later part of the summer. If
you place an imitation of any terrestrial in the right place, it is subject to being
eaten by a trout. In the forthcoming articles I will discuss each major insect and
how you go about imitating it to fool the trout.
Coming Up Next:
Inchworms (Geometridae Family)
Copyright 2008 James Marsh