Fly Fishing Entomology 101: How To Decide Which Fly Pattern To Use

In this Fly Fishing Entomology 101 Video, Curtis Fry and Lance Egan show different ways to identify what insects/bugs are in or on the water. They teach some basic skills necessary for you to decide which fly pattern to use.
One of the most difficult things to do when Fly Fishing, is to determine what the fish are eating. Using an Entomology Kit can make that task much easier and you time on the water much more enjoyable!
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[@emhankinson]

First. Beautiful looking water. Yinz are blessed. Second: beautiful fish. Third: the first 4 minutes were the best. This was the first I’ve seen throat pumping a trout. I have a pump, but never used it. Now I feel a little more confident using a pump. Thanks as always for the awesome content!

[@claytonballerine2280]

Another go-to method. Go to your local fly shop with a case of beer, buy some stuff, and let them get to know you by name. Then whenever you plan to go out on a trip within that fly shop's knowledge base call them and be like "Hey Its so and so, I'm going out to the trout river, what bugs should I expect to see there, and in what size?" If you did the first part right and they know you by name you are set and they will be more likely to give you an honest answer. Fly fishing life hack right there. If Cheech is in the shop Doritos may work just as well

[@zachmedeiros4163]

This is really really cool!

[@davehall2160]

Great information, thanks for the video

[@glencamblin]

Another excellent vid FFF dudes. Maybe a mention of pros and cons of pump vs shuffle would have added value.

[@Rich-fg9vj]

Do we really need to pump the stomachs of the fish? 1) You have to catch the fish first which means you have a fly that worked. 2) The fish is stressed from the fight and expended a lot of energy trying to get off. 3) By pumping it's stomach, You are robbing it from all the food it expended energy to eat. 4) You all did it quickly and cleanly. Kudos! But i see way too many that can't even take a picture of a fish, no less pump it's stomach. Just my 2 cents... i'll get off my soap box now.

[@FlyFishFood]

There are always risks when we go fishing. The best thing for the fish would be if we all Just stopped fishing in the first place. Learning how to properly land fish, pump fish, net fish, etc is part of the process. If you choose not to use a pump, kudos to you, but done properly, the fish are no worse for the wear.

[@slickydicky]

I usually carry protein powder to feed the trout after I pump it. It helps them grow bigger and stronger 💪

[@rschreck876]

They’re always eating a black zebra midge. Always.

[@jowhi9296]

do they eat the cases Caddis? or wait until they have opened

[@platty9237]

They eat the cases. Many caddis nymph imitations also imitate the case. Consider the peeking caddis, for example.

[@nicolaiharder1750]

WTF… stop recommending people pumping 🐠

[@FlyFishFood]

Your sentence structure leads me to believe that some people need to be pumped. We will take this stand together, unified as two commenters on You Tube… DO NOT PUMP PEOPLE!!! Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

[@mikea9365]

You know the fish ate a Frenchie yet you suck out the food it worked for? Pretty lame boys...

[@stevepedone5342]

Hey but what’s the fly in the pic for the video lol

[@FlyFishFood]

Green Drake Nymph. The fly pattern is a Deep Dish Green Drake.

[@michaelbreves753]

Do not stomach pump fish, you’re stealing a meal from them, It’s already hard enough for trout to survive. If you’re fly fishing, you should already have a good idea of what insects are in the stream

[@FlyFishFood]

Pumping a little bit out of its stomach is like taking a few pepperonis off of its pizza. I mean, errbody loves pepperoni, but you still get to eat the whole pizza.

[@rowdog6376]

Need something bigger than that to vacuum our New Zealand trout🤣

[@pgflyfisher]

I do commend you for doing a match the hatch video. However, I am a match hatcher type angler and never sample wild trout in streams - the risk and impact on fish is just too great, especially if a bunch of newbies is now going to go out and throat sample. I think you should emphasize that throat sampling should be done on fish 12" and bigger. Also from a bioenergetics perspective this practice in streams is not helpful for fish survival. I am not against throat sampling as I do it all the time in lakes, but I do have serious concerns when doing this in streams. Getting a sense of what is under the rocks or flying around etc is usually sufficient for success.

[@FlyFishFood]

I don’t know if I follow you here. Ok in lakes but not streams??? That’s a pretty broad stroke

@@FlyFishFood from a bioenergetics point of view. Stream fish have to spend a lot more energy than still water fish unless you pick a lake that has everything going against it. So when you empty the stomach of a stream trout which had to spend energy to feed, that fish has now to double the work and regardless of the water (stream or still) I'd be curious to see how long it takes for a fish to start feeding again in the case of a catch and release vs a fish that was catched, stomach pumped and released. The video was a decent 101 but there are way more benefits in reading flyfishing books on stream entomology and still water entomology. Lastly, if people aren't willing to open a book then they shouldn't even get the stomach pump!

[@wcdunn]

Once you have the bait secured, how do you attach it to a hook? Similar approach to using a worm threader?

[@FlyFishFood]

That works, but you can also tie on a fly that looks like the natural.

[@kellynukaya4888]

@@FlyFishFood hahaha

[@Wetbandits34]

No need to throat pump .. don’t agree with this

[@gnarxy]

same here.. You mean to tell me a trout had may flies and nymphs in it's throat??!! Who ever would have thought that?! Pumping is such a waste of time and just another toy flyshops sell to people who are more into gear/fashion than actually catching fish.

[@FlyFishFood]

@@gnarxy so you think pumps are the sex appeal of fly fishing. Noted and noted.

[@glencamblin]

No need ? For the dudes about to go pro maybe not... for people learning its very helpful. The shuffle technique only provides a sample of what is in the river and may not represent what is in the stream flow / menu.

[@brighamwilson1221]

You don’t “need” to do anything… But let’s say I am having a tough day on the river. The fish aren’t rising, There are no hatches happening, and I have changed flies 20 times. Then, I finally hook up and land a fish. If I pump that fish… then I will know exactly what it is eating and no longer have to guess... If I let it go without pumping it, and it happened to just be a very opportunistic fish. I’m going to have a rough rest of the day. It is simply just another tool in the tool box.

[@slickydicky]

I believe if you use a seine or turn over rocks you don't need to pump fish. Whether or not they hurt the fish I don't know, but it just feels wrong to me so I choose not to.

[@stevebrowne7709]

Honestly, why all the hate and ridicule for pumping? It's simple: If you are against it . . . don't do it! For those that have been fly fishing for years, you probably don't pump at all because you understand from experience what insects from different water types and the season of the year to expect trout to be feasting on. The very best tool for fly selection is observation combined with some insect knowledge. Careful pumping and gentle handling doesn't hurt fish. If you are on a crusade to save trout, put your energy in going after treble hooks and PowerBait.

[@Train411]

not much on Entomology and poor video. it's more like an advertisement for a bug-catching kit. thumbs down

[@kurtcameron7562]

the fact that this video has only 333 likes is sad. Great content! I'm going to order a kit.

[@Train411]

its more of an advertisement than anything thumbs down