Parachute Ant

Ants are more important food source than most fly anglers realize. Ants are extremely available to fish on ice free waters in the Rockies, Cascades, Sierras, Appalachian, Adirondack, Catskills, and many other mountainous regions. Mating ants can gather in the tens of millions, and after mating 'ant falls' can send fish into a feeding frenzy that has to be seen to be believed. Besides mating times, ants are vulnerable to wind currents. when it cools over high elevations, ants are forced down. Also watch for updrafts along north-south mountain ranges, they can send ants on uncontrolled flights resulting in unplanned landings! Terrestrials are insects born on land but still important to fish.