by John Kumiski
Bass everywhere eat dragonflies. Any observant person who spends time around the water has seen them do it. I’ve watched bass free-jump nearly three feet out of the water, trying to catch these amazing flying insects.
A typical adult dragonfly. This one is an eastern pondhawk male, found all along the East Coast.
When you see lots of dragonflies flying, consider using dragonfly-imitating baits.
Before we go there, though, let’s take a look at the insect itself. You find over 400 species of dragonflies in North America. Adults range in size from two to five inches in length and come in a wide variety of colors. Dragonflies (and damselflies too) are in the insect order Odonata. All the insects in this group have an immature, aquatic life stage and an adult, terrestrial life stage. The adults are strong, amazing fliers.
Dragonflies start their lives as eggs, laid either in or near the water or in the stem of an aquatic plant by a fertilized female. If you’ve ever watched a dragonfly repeatedly tap its tail on the water’s surface, it’s an egg-laying female. Depending on the species and water temperature, the eggs take between one and five weeks to hatch.
This bass, caught from a small Florida river, took a thin gurgler, the fly I usually use to imitate dragonflies.
Once the egg hatches, a water-breathing naiad emerges. Most people call them nymphs. They use a unique hinged, extendable jaw to hunt other insects, tadpoles, and even small fish. They are quite mobile, with six strong legs and a unique, jet-propulsion-like water jet system with which they can dart through the water. Like all arthropods, they grow by molting, shedding the old, too-small exoskeleton and growing a new, larger one. They can live in the water for several years and reach three inches in length. Importantly for fishermen, bass love to eat them.
Assuming a hungry fish doesn’t eat it, the day eventually comes when the naiad climbs out of the water, often on the stem of a bulrush or cattail, but on any solid substrate it can find. Then it splits its old skeleton open and climbs out of it with wings. Unable to fly for an hour or so, it’s very vulnerable to predation. If it doesn’t get eaten, it takes off as soon as the wings dry and harden. Now it’s what we call a “dragonfly”, an adult, winged insect.
While I was bass fishing, a dragonfly naiad climbed onto my kayak and hatched into a young adult.
The adults can live for up to six months, although it’s usually much less. Their main goal is to find a dragonfly of the opposite sex of the same species, mate, and lay eggs. While they search for that partner, they eat dozens to hundreds of mosquitoes, gnats, and other small flying insects every day. I say, eat those mosquitoes, and the black flies, too.
The best dragonfly adult and nymph imitations are delivered with a fly rod. Let’s look at flies that imitate dragonflies, both naiads and adults.
A Google search will turn up a wide variety of floating and sinking fly patterns. Fly tyers can use these as a starting point for their efforts. Since my preference is to keep things simple, woolly buggers in brown, black, and green are probably all you need to imitate the nymphs. Because the nymphs live so long, they are always present in suitable bass habitat. Use a nymph imitation any time.
Did this Tennessee smallmouth think the popper was a dragonfly?
Most dragonflies have wings that make me think the tyers had never touched a fly rod. Wind-catching pinwheels to throw! I just use gurglers, and many other fly rodders simply opt for poppers when the dragonflies are flying. No need to over-complicate things! Any time dragonflies are in evidence, much of the year in Florida and summer in the rest of the country, using these flies is appropriate.
When I use gurglers, poppers, or nymphs for bass, aggressive sunfish, and other species, they often attack and get hooked by my baits. Be ready for that. A little variety is always a nice problem to have.
While sunny days are better for dragonflies, this Maine largemouth took a surface bug on an overcast day anyway.
Not enough bass fishermen use dragonfly imitations, despite the fact that bass love to eat dragonflies. Try using a dragonfly imitation, and show the bass an artificial bait they don’t often see.
And finally, while this piece focused on bass, trout will certainly eat dragonflies and damselflies too, particularly the naiads.
