Thousands of these beasties were crawling out of the Tweed and hatching today. They were everywhere except in the water. Some of them were enormous - up to an inch long.
The wagtails love them but very few took flight so the sand martins had to be happy with smaller stuff. They look very clumsy in flight with the four wings seemingly uncoordinated.
Edit.
I played around a bit with the picture Stonefly 2. The new version show some more detail.
Good pictures P.A., It's finally solved the mystery, for me anyway, of what a Gadger actually looks like. Any idea how they came to be called Gadger's ?
Have you ever seen a trout taking these big adults PA. I was watching them in their dozens today - and not a single trout rose to them.
Quote from: Malcolm on April 10, 2011, 12:20:50 AM
Have you ever seen a trout taking these big adults PA. I was watching them in their dozens today - and not a single trout rose to them.
I saw a trout take one today for the first time ever. It didn't just take it - it demolished it. The fish was a big one about 4lb at a guess and had taken an olive and a march brown before the stonefly drifted over just a couple of feet from the near bank. It got hammered by the fish.
My first cast was too close to the fish I think and it never rose again. I know where he lives though :8)
Alex
I had a stroll down the Feugh with the rod yesterday. I say stroll as I never even cast a line. It quite cold in the wind, but with bright sun. No upwinged flies at all but loads of small stoneflies. Not a fish moved to them. I have seen fish on the Don take the small stoneflies, but never the big stoneflies.
I don't want to disillusion you Bob, but the first picture is a male and the other three are female, all adults.
This is a gadger, creeper or nymph whichever you want to call it.
You will notice the lack of wings.
(http://www.ballinderryanglers.co.uk/brownstone.jpg)
Quote from: fishtales on April 10, 2011, 10:25:16 AM
I don't want to disillusion you Bob, but the first picture is a male and the other three are female, all adults.
Is this significant ? Are only the females called Gadgers ?
Quote from: fishtales on April 10, 2011, 10:25:16 AM
This is a gadger, creeper or nymph whichever you want to call it.
You will notice the lack of wings.
(http://www.ballinderryanglers.co.uk/brownstone.jpg)
I don't understand, as soon as the wings start to show do they cease to become nymphs ? How long does the metamorphosis from nymph to emerger/adult take ?
Has anyone got a photo of an emerger, do stoneflies crawl onto stones to metamorphosise or do they do it in the water ?
My knowledge of entomology is sadly lacking :oops:
The gadger or nymph crawls out of the water and the adult breaks out of the back just as upwings do except on dry land, if you look on stones near the water you will see the empty skins, they don't have wings. Most of the adult males have those short wings as in picture one and the females have the long wings as in the other pictures. The adults spend most of their time crawling about through the bankside vegetation. They only live for a few weeks and the females return to the water to lay their eggs and then die, the males die on dry land unless they fall in :)
What's the difference between entomology and etymology ? :?
I thought gadger maybe came from the term gadgie as defined in the urban dictionary http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=gadgie (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=gadgie) or here http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gadgie (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gadgie) :lol:
But can't see how it relates to stonefly nymphs :?
This is getting complicated :?
I've heard the word shearn before which I think is a noun therefor shearney would be the comparative of the adjective. :)
We used to have a rope swing in a field where there were coo's and my mother forbade that I use it as we would sometimes come home covered in shearn. I suppose you could've said our clothes were a bit shearney by the time we came home. Ooh 'ar. :lol:
Sorry Bob it was Donald that mentioned gadgers :roll:
The gadger was the exciseman and as the stonefly nymph is usually called a creeper and the exciseman crept about the countryside looking for smugglers and illicit stills then it is probable that is where it comes from :dunno
They like warm, dark, moist places :shock:
Never knew shearney was a Clyde style colour but am sure I've heard it used in reference to fly tying. Maybe somewhere in the list of Clyde style flees that appeared on here a while ago ?
That is very interesting re. gadger's Sandy, these auld anglers knew a thing or two. :wink:
Stonefly have no hair on the wings, or body as far as I know. Once you have seen the big browns chasing the Great Red Sedge about at Hillend on a summer evening you would soon change your mind about whether they like them or not :) I have watched fish chase sedges across the water at various lochs snapping at them like a terrier at a trouser leg. They will sometimes follow them for yards their heads coming out of the water at intervals as they tried to catch them. They will also come up and slap them with their tails to drown them and then take them underwater. Knowing they have done that and leaving the line alone for a few seconds before pulling it a few feet is one of the hardest strikes not to make. Even after making the strike it is sometimes better to leave the line alone and then retrieve slowly and wait for the pull. It can be exciting fishing in the late evening/dark of a still summer night. Assuming of course the Caenis aren't out too then it is hard to figure out what they are taking; then it is on the tail with the sedge, grease all the leader leaving the droppers and putting #16/18 Caenis nymphs on them and fishing the lot in short pulls in front of cruising fish and waiting to see what they take. Very frustrating when they are rising all round the leader and not touching your flies :)
Quote from: piscatus absentis on April 11, 2011, 09:20:58 PM
The problem with the stonefly may be that very few adults land on the surface of the water for the troots to have a go at. Egg laying females tend to crawl into the water or make their way down stems and consequently may be taken under water. Males don't return to the water.
There have been loads of the big stoneflies around on the surface of the water recently just floating down. They are such poor swimmers - they don't sit on the surface but swim in it - that I don't know why more fish don't see them as a really easy meal. I know Alex saw one get hammered but I've never seen it.
Here's a picture of one from the weekend in case anyone wants to tie an imitation. These are over an inch long so I think a Long shank 8 would be about right
[attachimg=1]
Here you are Bob.
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ghYtAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA388&dq=gadger+fishing&hl=en&ei=rFajTcuPDsWk8QPty72rAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CF0Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=gadger%20fishing&f=false
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0WdEAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA127&dq=gadger+fishing&hl=en&ei=rFajTcuPDsWk8QPty72rAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CGIQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=gadger%20fishing&f=false