Ant/Termite Pattern required

[ikerajala 0]

Yep ants sure are great. Don't rule out deer hair ants either. They are created by folding bunches of deer hair into the shape of an ant. I saw a great video on here one day demonstrating this. My personal favorte is a fur ant. Dubbig and neck hackle. Simple but effective.

 

Oh Yeah also the fur ant rarely ever floats, but trout don't seem to mind. Makes me wonder if there is a wet fly that sorta kinda looks like an ant. Maybe a picket pin?

[phg 0]

The first ant pattern I ever saw was just tying thread. Build up an abdomen, leave a waist and build up a thorax, wrap a hackle at the waist, lacquer the abdomen and thorax to make them hard and shiny. I guess, strictly speaking, the waist was actually the thorax, and what's commonly called the thorax was actually the head, as an ant's head is typically bigger than its thorax.

 

I tried tying this pattern several times, but, where I lived, there weren't any size 12 ants, so I wasn't happy with it and never fished it. I might have been pleasantly surprised if I had....

[FlaFly 0]

Actually, the waist is technically part of the abdomen (see pic). If you wrap hackle around the waist, it kinda simulates the three sets of legs.

 

[flytire 0]

[mikechell 0]

 

[FlaFly 0]

Flytire

I made a hot glue ant that looks very much like yours posted above, though not so shiny or clear. Don't have a photo of it. Mine has a black front end (head?) and a red abdomen, with black hackle. I don't know if there are any real bicolor ants, but I don't think the bluegills will mind. Somebody posted a pic on here about 6 months ago of a trout with a red/black ant hooked in its mouth, so I guess trout don't mind either. I'd repost the pic but it isn't mine and I don't recall whose it was.

[SilverCreek 0]

Yep ants sure are great. Don't rule out deer hair ants either. They are created by folding bunches of deer hair into the shape of an ant.

 

Calcaterra Ant

http://www.kernriverflyfishing.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1313984527

http://books.google.com/books?id=DiDnBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT411&lpg=PT411&dq=Calcaterra+Ant+pattern&source=bl&ots=v8jstXi7J8&sig=g8HFTU4vJlh02IrSNWuorIYhMyw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Jz1yVKbuKZCdygSYh4LgCQ&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=Calcaterra%20Ant%20pattern&f=false

[phg 0]

Actually, the waist is technically part of the abdomen (see pic). If you wrap hackle around the waist, it kinda simulates the three sets of legs.

 

You're taking what I said too literally, and not taking the meaning. None of our flies are anatomically correct....(unless you tie realistic, that is.)

[flytire 0]

for the need to be anatomically correct crowd (from hatches magazine)

 

[retrocarp 0]

My nickname for this pattern is the Marshmallow Bodied white ant ( termites in USA)Winged version.

Retrocarp from ARMIDALE NSW AUSTRALIA

[vb1971 0]

Thanks Retro

Is that Antron you have used for the body? And assuming Elk Hair for the wings

 

Cheers

[retrocarp 0]

My pleasure , Congo hair for body and deer hair for the wing.....couldn't lay my hands on my elk.