Millipede Pattern?

[nittspike]

Hi All,

I was fishing a local water in Sth East Pa this past Sunday and one of the requirements of me to leave the kids with the wife for 5-6 hours on a Sunday is to bring home at least one fish for dinner evey now and then. I ended up hooking a 12" rainbow and when I came home to clean it I took a look at it's stomach contents and I am not kidding in that there were about 20-40 small 1/2" to 1"millipedes this guy was gorging on. Would anyone know of a pattern that would maybe immitate the common garden variety? They were all dark gray to gray translucent with a definable round head which i think a small black bead could probably work. I am not a fly tier yet but was not sure if anyone knows a pattern that might suit.

Thanks,
John

 

[tomgamber]

I guess a grayish scud pattern in the appropriate length...just clip the legs real short before you tie it on.

 

[MKern]

My question is where would a fish find 40 millipedes to gorge on?

Scuds not a bad idea Tom!
Possibly cress bug or grey caddis pattern?

 

[MKern]

What about a small san juan, but tied with grey vernille?
Anyone can tie a san juan!

 

[sandfly]

like to see a pic of them, sounds like some sort of water insect..maybe a alder fly larva.. What stream were you fishing ?

 

[DGC]

nittspike,

The flies already suggested should be fine. I am also curious about a picture, because I have always read that fish do not take a liking to millipedes, something to do with toxic excretions. That said, there are a few "millipede" patterns around, though even their developers comment on the toxicity factor and that the fish may be taking them as something else, such as caddis larvae.

This is not to suggest your identification is incorrect. It's just that it would be interesting to me from an empirical standpoint to know that millipedes really are taken in that quantity. If you have a camera and can get a picture or two the next time out, that would be great.

Thanks for bringing your question here.

 

[tabasco_joe]

When I was fishing Penns last week I took some time to seine a few samples from the drift. One bug I captured appeared to be similar to the millipede you described. Since I didn't have my reading glasses I asked a guy standing next to me what he thought. He thought it was some type of scud. I was going to photograph it but of course the battery in the camera died on the previous insect.

 

[nittspike]

I tried to get a pic but my macro mode on the camera did not work so well. I was fishing White Clay East Branch. The pool was just 5-10yds down stream from a really large downed tree and cut out a high bank on the opposite side, tree was probably @ 100-200yrs old at minimum. The last stocking on the stream was @ April so this fish had to see these things before. I figure that the millipedes break down plant matter in moist enviroment and were more than likely up stream and sometimes fall in to the water float down and are picked off. I like the sugestions and will try to tie some. I was equally shocked at the qty of these in this fish belly. I pushed once and a large mass came out and then pushed again and an equally sized mass came out ..all millipedes except for 3 small nymphs.

I was just throwing an idea out there in that if you are downstream of a large log/tree this pattern may work. I think I was lucky with the fly I caught him on.

I'll try and dig one up in my garden and post a pic here when I get back in town..

Thanks,
John

 

[shakey]

i think if you dubbed a 2-3x long nymph hook with gray sow-scud

and palmered grizzly or dun hackle the length,then clipped the hackle off the top and bottom.

sort of the way you turn a wooly worm into a centipede or hellagramite,only on a smaller scale.

 

[afishinado]

Did they look like this?







http://www.flyfishingentomology.com/Alderfly.htm

 

[sandfly]

millipedes are not found in water, they are a dry land insect. Though they can fall in..

 

[tomgamber]

sandfly wrote:
Though they can fall in..

I'm glad you added that because my first thought was, "neither are ants or inchworms or hoppers..."

 

[afishinado]

I think Sandfly had it right when he guessed alderfly. (see photo and link I posted earlier). Those millipedes would have to be very unlucky if 20-40 of them fell in at the same time and were eaten by the same trout.

http://www.flyfishingentomology.com/Alderfly.htm

 

[nittspike]

Hey All,

It was definately not an alderfly..I think I attached the pics below correctly of what this fish was eating. Just want to remind all that the fish was caught in a pool directly below a very large, rotting tree that was half way in the stream. Millipedes prefer very moist enviroments and eat dead decaying plant matter which this tree would provide plenty of. I think we all know trout are very opportunistic eaters, so maybe next time near a large downed tree creating some type of imitation may prove successful.

1st pic is what the live version would look like, 2nd pic is the dead curled verions (what I found in the belly) and 3rd is the actual fish.

 

[tomgamber]

that may look like a centipede but not a millipede...don;t know how you could confuse this and that

funny though...in google images there are some that call a milli a centi...and vice versa...poor ID is the problem.

 

[JustFish]

It was in SE PA. I have seen people actually chum a pool whether it be trout pellets, mealies or corn. Get the fish turned on to the bait they have and then put it on their hook and fish.

Could that possibly be the case? Not saying your wrong about the fallen over tree b/c you might be right. Just a possible different scenario that's all. If it had that many millipedes maybe someone was a chummin!!!!!!!

 

[bigjohn58]

Look at the bridge piers sometime you are out. I've seen on Fishing Creek thousands of millipedes before on the bridge piers. Especially when the water levels raise they are bound to get in the water.

 

[afishinado]

They sure look like millepedes. Here is the closest aquatic insect to the photo you posted - Riffle beetle:

Riffle Beetle Larva

 

[sandfly]

i would use somthing like this then..

 

[bigjohn58]

The Millipedes are more of a dark brown on top and a light tan on the bottom and are very skinny. I have a pattern I'll have to post when I get time that uses spanflex and clipped hackle for legs.