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Japanese Beetle
A terrestrial, tied #12–16, a summer pattern. It is tied against 1 named insect in this book — July–August.
A terrestrial with a green-bronze back, tied on a standard dry-fly hook in sizes 12–16 with green 8/0 thread. Peacock herl forms the body beneath a green-and-copper foam or Ice Dub shellback, metallic green foam makes the shellback itself, and black rubber supplies the legs. The colour is doing real work here, since the fly is tied against the Japanese beetle, Popillia japonica, a terrestrial out in July and August when water sits between 60 and 80 degrees. Trout are the target. It is a summer fly, fished through those two months on farmland and suburban water, and it is worth carrying anywhere grapevines overhang the current, since that is where the naturals congregate and fall. One characteristic to expect: it sinks a little rather than riding high, and that is correct behaviour for the pattern — a beetle in the water is a beetle mostly under it, half-drowned and drifting in the film.
- #12–16Hook size
- terrestrialType
- SummerSeason
- 1Hatch matched
What it looks like
A drawing, not a photograph, and not traced from one. Its proportions were read off 5 independent reference photographs of the pattern and written down as 5 measured characteristics — wing angle, tail length against the shank, how far a hackle fibre reaches — every one of which had to hold across more than one of them before it could be drawn. What survives across many photographs of a fly is the fly.
What it imitates
Each of these is the same hatch record the app's own panel reads, so a pattern recommended on a river card in the app is recommended for one of the insects below.
Tying recipe
In tying order. This dressing is the standard one — these patterns have been in the publicrecord for decades — and materials substitute freely: the proportions and the silhouette are the pattern, not the brand of dubbing.
| Hook | Standard dry-fly hook, sizes 12–16 |
|---|---|
| Thread | Green 8/0 |
| Body | Peacock herl under a green-and-copper foam or Ice Dub shellback |
| Legs | Black rubber |
| Shellback | Metallic green foam |
When to fish it
July and August on farmland and suburban water. It sinks a little, which is correct.
A summer pattern. The insects it matches are active july–august, in water from 60°F to 80°F.
Target species
- Trout
Rivers it fishes well
Rivers with a page here that sit in the regions where the insects this pattern imitates are recorded. It is a claim about coverage, not a report of a fish caught.
- Au Sable River northern lower Michigan · July mean 72.1°F
- Catawba River the North Carolina mountains · July mean 76.7°F
- Jackson River the Virginia mountains · July mean 66.3°F
- Muskegon River northern lower Michigan · July mean 71.0°F
- Smith River the Virginia mountains · July mean 51.9°F
- Tygart Valley River the Virginia mountains · July mean 74.6°F
- Kalamazoo River southern lower Michigan · July mean 71.3°F
- Aaron Creek the North Carolina mountains · July mean 76.7°F
- Aaron Run the Virginia mountains · July mean 77.1°F
- Aarons Run the Virginia mountains · July mean 74.2°F
- Abb Run the Virginia mountains · July mean 77.1°F
- Abes Run the Virginia mountains · July mean 71.1°F
Related patterns
Same type of fly, or tied for the same insects.
- Foam Beetle terrestrial · #12–18 — Black foam, a bit of flash on top. The most reliable summer dry on wooded streams.
- Black Cricket terrestrial · #10–14 — Late summer into October, after the hoppers thin out.
- Black Foam Ant terrestrial · #14–20 — Floats low, which is how a real ant sits. Small water, tight to the bank.
- Cinnamon Flying Ant terrestrial · #16–20 — Carry a few in late August. When the fall happens nothing else will do.
- Dave's Hopper terrestrial · #8–12 — Deer hair and legs. The classic, and it lands with the right kind of thud.