Red Legged March Fly

O

outsider

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Without looking this up, anyone know what this is? Anyone experience this "hatch". I have. Looking forward to your response.
 
Had to look it up. Bibio Femoratus. From our conversation on Saturday, I can honestly say I can't recall these critters, much less fish eating them. Guess it's a right place, right time kinda thing.

What pattern did you use to immitate these bugs? In the brief look I had in your fly boxes, it was very obvious to me that you're one heck of a good tyer.
 
Bibio femoratus is medium sized and usually black, though the thorax and legs can be orange or red. The antennae are relatively short and thick, have 10 segments and are located low on the head. The wings usually have a dark spot on the leading edge about two thirds of the way out away from the body. The adults, which are usually abundant in early Spring, are known to form copulatory swarms, hence the term lovebug. Once fertilized, the females lay their eggs randomly on soil surfaces. The larvae develop during Fall and Winter and feed on decaying organic matter.

Bibio femoratus is a slow and clumsy flier and is usually found a couple feet off the ground. They can be observed tumbling around and flailing their legs in an effort to right themselves. After synchronous emergence, Bibio femoratus forms large swarms of mating pairs. The mating pairs are joined at the abdomen and stay that way for a while. They seem oblivious and unaware of humans as a threat, and will not make any efforts to avoid sudden movements or threatening gestures.
 
Terrestrial "fly" (literally)

larvae live gregariously in the top layers of soil and leaf litter, rotten wood, and dung; adults often found on flowers

http://bugguide.net/node/view/3834

 
Apparently they burrow into the soil adjacent to streams, and crawl out as adults. They do end up in the stream and fish love them. They may be cyclic, not hatching every year. I encountered them along Kettle Creek in Potter County. Each time it brought great surface feeding activity. My solution to match the hatch at that moment was a large floating carpenter ant pattern. Chauncy Lively wrote an article in the Pennsylvania Angler years ago with a pattern. Bibio Femoratus.
 
Many beetles and ants make it into the water. I have a tie for these called the "Herbie."
 
JackM wrote:
Many beetles and ants make it into the water. I have a tie for these called the "Herbie."

like the awesome love bug no?
 
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