The hatch chart · Terrestrial
Ants
Lasius niger
- Natural’s size
- Hook 14–18
- Time of day
- Humid afternoons, flying-ant days
- At its peak
- August
- Fly to try
- Foam Ant, size 16
The year
- JJanuary: not expected
- FFebruary: not expected
- MMarch: not expected
- AApril: not expected
- MMay: not expected
- JJune: not expected
- JJuly: some about
- AAugust: main hatch
- SSeptember: some about
- OOctober: not expected
- NNovember: not expected
- DDecember: not expected
In the hand
Three distinct body sections with a narrow waist, elbowed antennae; winged ants carry two pairs of clear wings longer than the body. Black or dark red-brown, 4–8 mm.
On the river
On a few hot, humid afternoons in late summer whole colonies take flight at once. If a fall reaches the river, trout feed on nothing else and will ignore every other fly in the box.