Just had a very frustrating few hours at Threipmuir. The water was boiling with fish, they were rising all around me and slurping away, some real big fish too, not just wee 6oz jobbies. There was no visible hatch but from a terrestrial point of view there were quite a lot of flying ants on the way down, and a few daddies fumbling on the surface,.

I tried various wets, couple of daddies, sedges, and not a single take, despite being completely surrounded by rising brownies, tails the size of my hand waving at me. The only thing I didn't try was a small dry simply because I don't have any.

What should I have tried, and what was going on! ???

Jumping in and grabbing one ?

If I'd been wearing chest waders, I could have...so frustrating!

Mmmm, try a #14 ant maybe? Ants tend to get swamped so might be difficult to see if there is even a slight ripple.

My own experience with even a small fall of ants is that the trout look at nothing else.

Ardbeg

Saw the same thing with ants at a small hill lough a couple years ago, quite a sight but annoying. Ant patterns can be very straight forward to tie but can go as small as size 22.

__________________
Where the wandering water gushes
From the hills above Glen-Car,
In pools among the rushes
That scarce could bathe a star,
We seek for slumbering trout
And whispering in their ears
Give them unquiet dreams;
Leaning softly out
From ferns that drop their tears
Over the young streams.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

I had the same thing yesterday and caught on a size 20 grey duster (smallest I had). Last night I tied 8 ant patterns between size 16 and 26... so I for one really hope there is still an ant rise today

BW

I had this at bushyleaze a couple of weeks ago, so i looked into it a bit. The fish are feeding but they are just letting the food come to them rather than hunting for it.
try a team of clink hammers or a single clink hammer in the water, letting the current do the work or a team of clink hammers with a daddy on your point.

I witnessed the same thing yesterday fish feeding all over and after looking at the water spotted what they were gorging themselves on which was flying ants.Most you put in front of them they wouldnt look at and it was a case of going down in size to 14,s and 16,s which worked.Suspender patterns took,bibio and ant patterns all in black and fiery brown colours worked.Other anglers did take fish aswell on daddies but once you found the secret fishing was good.Black seems to be quite dominant at present and funny enough going to the other end of the fly patterns a black fritz with a lime bead head has been a good taking pattern of late and a young lad just first time out had a lesson and caught his first fish on it and was over the moon.

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Kevin

Interesting to see its not just me, I've now armed myself with some tiny dries... and then today the autumn cold has really arrived and I doubt I'll see this again this season now!

I had exactly the same experience last Friday evening - not a single take with anything