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Damselfly (Zygoptera)
Other, in the drift all year, active in water between 55 and 78°F, and imitated at #10–14. Recorded from the Virginia mountains, where 796 Virginia rivers on this site carry a page.
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- #10–14Hook size
- 55–78°FWater, active
- all yearAvailable
- 2Life stages fished
What it is
Other · Zygoptera · nymph → adult
The adult is the slim blue or green needle that perches with its wings folded along the body. The nymph is equally slim, olive to tan, with three leaf-shaped tail gills it uses like a paddle.
The nymph is slim, three-tailed and a genuinely good swimmer, taken all year in weedy and slow water. The adults are on the water in midsummer, and a trout that eats one has usually taken it as it dips to lay eggs rather than in flight.
When it hatches
In the water twelve months a year, which is why the panel in the app ranks it below anything with a season.
peak shoulder not recommended
Water conditions
The band is a water temperature, not an air temperature, and it is the range in which this insect is worth fishing — for a mayfly that is the emergence window; for a scud or a midge it is simply the range trout will still eat one in.
Active from 55°F to 78°F. On this map that is cold, cold-transitional, cool, warm water — the band crosses 3 of the three breaks the river colours use. Breaks at 58, 64 and 70°F.
Stages
What the insect is doing, and what that means for what you tie on.
| Stage | What it is |
|---|---|
| nymph | Lives in weed and slow margins and swims in a distinct side-to-side wriggle. Taken all year; the fly should be moved, not drifted. |
| adult | On the water in midsummer, usually when a female drops to lay eggs or a pair falls in coupled. A trout eating one has taken it off the surface, not out of the air. |
Matching flies
4 patterns in this book imitate the Damselfly, across its stages. Which one to tie on follows the stage the water temperature says it is in — the app makes that call on a live reading; this page lists the whole set.
- Adult Damsel dry fly · #10–14 — Blue or olive extended body on a foam post. For midsummer afternoons on slow weedy water.
- Damsel Nymph nymph · #10–14 — Slim olive body, marabou tail, small bead eyes. Retrieved in short pulls — the natural swims in a side-to-side wriggle.
- Pheasant Tail Nymph nymph · #12–22 — The mayfly nymph. Beadhead or not, size 16, and half the trout in the world have eaten one.
- Woolly Bugger (Olive) streamer · #2–12 — The clear-water version. Smaller and lighter than you think you need.
Where to find it right now
The rivers with a page here that sit in this insect's regions, with a USGS gauge reporting water temperature. This list is re-ranked against the reading each gauge is sending now and today's date, so it is live — the fallback below it, if the readings do not arrive, is each river's measured July mean.
- Jackson River the Virginia mountains · July mean 66.3°F
- Biggs Run the Virginia mountains · July mean 67.5°F
- Furnace Branch the Virginia mountains · July mean 67.5°F
- Hipes Branch the Virginia mountains · July mean 67.5°F
- Karnes Creek the Virginia mountains · July mean 67.5°F
- Mill Branch the Virginia mountains · July mean 67.5°F
- Ponding Mill Creek the Virginia mountains · July mean 67.5°F
- Roaring Run the Virginia mountains · July mean 67.5°F
- Bearwallow Run the Virginia mountains · July mean 69.2°F
- Blights Run the Virginia mountains · July mean 69.2°F
Regional presence
Regions, not collection records. This insect is recorded from the coarse regions below; nobody has surveyed which named river it has been caught on, and this page will not pretend otherwise.
- northern lower Michigan MI
- southern lower Michigan MI
- the Upper Peninsula MI
- the Wisconsin driftless WI
- northern Wisconsin WI
- the Virginia mountains VA
- the North Carolina mountains NC
Rivers in these regions with a page here
- Jackson River
- Smith River
- Als Run
- Alum Creek
- Amos Branch
- Anderson Run
- Ararat River
- Auberry Creek
- Back Creek
- Back Creek
- Back Fork
- Back Run
- Baker Branch
- Baldwin Branch
- Baldwin Branch
- Barbours Creek
- Bark Camp Branch
- Bark Camp Branch
- Barkcamp Branch
- Barnard Creek
- Barney Run
- Barterbrook Branch
- Batie Creek
- Battery Creek
- and 772 more
Related hatches
Same family, or overlapping this one's calendar on the same water.
- Cranefly Tipula spp. · Other · April–June and September–October
- Water Boatman Corixidae · Other · September–November
- Fish Eggs Other · Other · October–January and April
- Alderfly Sialis spp. · Other · May–June
- Aquatic Worm Oligochaeta · Other · all year