Fly Tying a Deer Hair Ant (Simple Terrestrial Pattern)
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- Опубликовано: 7 окт 2024
- Try this simple ant pattern anytime in the warmer months when the terrestrials are out and about. Substitute natural deer hair and a black marker if you don't have the black deer hair. It'll still fish!
Hook: #12-20 dry fly
Thread: Black
Body & Legs: Black deer hair
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Dave Hughes, "Essential Trout Flies," 2017, amzn.to/3lbCZYX
Dave Hughes, "Wet Flies," 2015, amzn.to/33ac3lQ
John Shewey, "Classic Steelhead Flies," 2015, amzn.to/2RywHcP
David Klausmeyer's "Favorite Flies," 2020, amzn.to/3oeSNMa
Morgan Lyle's "Simple Flies," 2015, amzn.to/3qB1zW1
Fly Pattern Encyclopedia: amzn.to/34U0rUe
Mike Valla's "Tying the Founding Flies," 2015, amzn.to/354oSir
Mike Valla's "Classic Streamer Fly Box," 2020, amzn.to/3n3Vakf
Randle Scott Stetzer's "Flies, the Best One Thousand," 1992, amzn.to/34Q15mp
Terry Hellekson's "Popular Fly Patterns," 1976, amzn.to/2L4IyvS
Dick Stewart's, "Flies for Bass and Panfish," 1992, amzn.to/3aGpFs1
Fly Pattern Encyclopedia: amzn.to/34U0rUe
Savage Flies is a project with the mission of encouraging and teaching fly tying to as many people as possible. The channel is named after one of my western Maryland homewaters, the Savage River. I've been uploading three new tying videos a week, with the occasional extra video on other days.
Thanks for stopping by. Please let me know in the comments if you have any tying tips you would like to share or if you have any patterns you would like to see tied here. 
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I always fish a Griffis gnat on a double dry fly set up
Yes Michael! I've heard of that too. My Griffith's Gnats are so tiny I can hardly see them at all. Next time I use one, I'll fish it with a bigger dry in tandem.
Nice tie Matt, awesome looking too! I've tied them before but most productive for me is a dubbed ant with a couple of turns of grizzly hackle trimmed top & bottom, size 12 - 14. Too many tangles with multi-fly rigs for me, I just use a foam indicator. When the fish start eating the indicator, I take it off and replace it with a same color/size fly.
Great tip Joe, and I too love a good dubbed body ant too. Speaking of fish eating indicators, that happens to me way too often. Usually it's the small reckless fish just slapping at it but last fall I had a big brown come and take my fluorescent pink thingamabobber. I mean, he ate it. He had that thing in his mouth for a couple of seconds, practically taking it back to his holding spot before spitting it out. Fun times. :-)
@@SavageFlies Yup, time to put a hook on it!
Glad I found this video. I had two of these with an orange antron indicator spot on top that I inherited from my Dad. Used it to complete the hardest part of the Utah Cutthroat Slam. I have always wanted to tie more, as one of the two originals was deep swallowed by an 6" cutthroat and had to be cut off.
Nice job. When I tie this I use a small black hackle at the waist for the legs. Trim it above the midline. It is not as realistic, but the fish seem to approve.
Thank you for the video.
Good looking pattern ....my eyes are not so good now so im always tying bright colored foam ants ....i will give this deer hair ant a go and just add a tiny bit of orange foam on top ....then i can see it .Thanks !!
I do exactly what you said all the time. Elk hair caddis down to an ant. Kind of boring to talk about but man it works.
Thanks for the confirmation my friend! I appreciate the note. :-)
Great tie Matt. Thanks for sharing. This is a fish catcher. I'll tie in a little tuff of parapost in the center just above the legs, trimming it about 3/16" to increase the visibility. The fish don't seem to mind. Give it a try.
I will give it a try Layton, thanks! I always worry that a fly that might sink a bit could turn off the fish if we tie an indicator on it. I mean, I don't mind a big white or fluorescent orange indicator on a fly that's going to be riding high in the water. I don't think the fish will see it. I'll give it a try anyway. We could probably even put a tiny piece of white or yellow foam to help.
Your a great fly tier Matt kudos
Nice fun, easy pattern! Thanks Matt!
Oh yeah Troy... and I love these simple little ant patterns. There has been plenty of days on the water where I was in danger of getting skunked and an ant gave me the only action.
Thanks for sharing. I didn’t have black deer hair so I used some moose mane...it turned out ok. Keith
You know Keith, the first ones I did of this pattern (many years ago), I didn't have black hair either so I used natural deer and a black marker. They weren't the prettiest ants but they worked. :-)
nice easy one there matt...
Great video! I have used black moose body hair in the past also.
Thanks Steve! I'll bet moose hair looks about the same as deer in this pattern. I was even thinking about trying this with black bear hair. It might look the same, but wouldn't float as much. Which could be an advantage in certain conditions.
Would love to have your forgotten flys book, quick. Thanks
Looks good, I tied some ants just the other day using superfine dubbing to make the body and hackle for the legs. This pattern looks so much better, plus deer/elk hair floats so much better too.
Thanks David! This pattern may not be as durable as the dubbing/hackle ants you tied as sometimes the deer hair can break, but I think this one is easier and certainly a lot quicker to tie. :-)
I love tying tiny black foam ants and spiders, usually with a hi-vis hot spot. I figure the black silhouette is easy for the fish to see, and doesn't look out of it's element. I haven't tied with deer hair...yet.
I actually tie more ants with foam than I do with deer hair. But this is still a pretty fun one. :-)
That's a nice and easy ant pattern
Indeed it is Mike! Thanks for watching my friend. :-)
Think this fly.is.in Don Kirk book.Ants are every where and trout love them.Great job Matt.
I don't remember this one in there Ken, but I did just see the Little River Ant in it. That's a pretty cool looking one too. Thanks for the note!
I was going to say this is the first fly I've seen with only one material, but then I remembered egg patterns, so I guess it's the second. Nice fly Matt. Keep the good stuff coming.
Appreciate it my friend! Don't forget the Walt's Worm as another great single material fly. :-)
Good tie Matt! That fly does pretty good here in Missouri!
Oh yeah Franky, I'd say ants work everywhere. :-)
Thanks Matt! Appreciate your hard work. KANSAS
Thank you Jack; and I appreciate you watching my friend!
fun tye .Thanks Matt!
Appreciate it James! Coming up tomorrow, the complete opposite of this guy... an old school Carey Special. :-)
Awesome! As you say a very simple fly pattern to make. Thank you for sharing.
Nice little ant matt.i had some luck last time i was out on a beetle pattern.👍
Same here Hugh! I've been known to see a nice undercut bank with some bushes around it, and snip off my elk hair caddis just to try a beetle in that one spot. And on occasion, it has worked. :-)
Awwwwwwww….. good morning Matt! Great mines think alike lol. I been tying up a lot of ants. I need all the help I can get and I love this one you did. Sitting back with coffee and breakfast with my mom! Thanks for all that you do and have a safe and amazing day 👍
Appreciate it Jim! And yep, everybody needs a few ants in their box. Sometimes it's the only hatch in town. :-)
Loved tying this little fellow. Awesome as always, Matt. You probably won’t see any posts from me for a little while. My stepdad died Tuesday from cancer. I just had to get a minute to calm down and this was a nice distraction for a little while. Thanks for sharing your skills with us.
I'm sorry to hear that Chad. I hope you and the family are doing okay. Check in anytime you want; I'm not going anywhere. Stay strong my friend.
nice looking ant pattern, those will tie up nicely. Thanks Matt.
Appreciate it Lee. And honestly, fishing ants is not as much fun as drifting a beautiful Adams through a riffle, but sometimes it's patterns like these that are the only ones to work. :-)
Superbly excellent!
Appreciate it my friend!
Hmmm, gonna whip up a couple of these! Thank you Matt!
Definitely Eddie! In a half hour of tying, you can enough of these in your box to probably last the rest of the season. :-)
That is a cool looking ant pattern
Will definitely have to try this one
Thanks Matt
Definitely Dave! We all should have at least a couple of ants in our boxes. :-)
Nice pattern, Matt. As always, I will add that one to my box. I have bags of pre-cut foam I have used for my ants/beetles for about 25yrs...they work great, but this one has a better profile. Thanks, sir.
You bet Todd; appreciate the comment! I was just mentioning in another comment that I think the profile is the most important aspect of a dry fly. I do like foam ants, and they're almost as easy to tie as this one, but good dry fly hackle is way more expensive than a few strands of deer hair. That's why I like this one. Plus, like you said, it does have a pretty real ant-like profile. :-)
Always good to have some ants in the box. They are everywhere. I usually carried at least 4 black ants & a couple of red ones. Nothing hatching but trees, grass or bushes near or other the water? Try an ant.
Trout: Mmm! Those cicadas were yummy! Now I need something small for dessert. Oh look, there’s an ant!
Like my wife always says Bob, ants do make a great dessert. :-)
Such a cool take on an Ant, awesome
Thank you Rocky! Always appreciate you watching my friend. :-)
Nice pattern as always Matt. I will use a two dry system when using size 20 or smaller dries. Especially in the winter time when the BWO’s and little black stone flies are hatching. I fish water to where you will need to make 25-30ft casts so this helps tremendously. Also, the way I tie my ant is by using split shot on the shank with a little bit of hackle in between. It’s weighted so no need to add split shot to your leader.
Great tip Tim! I've never seen a split shot ant but it sounds interesting. Do you have any problems with it sinking too fast? I mean, I envision drowned ants sinking, but being slow sinkers and not getting too far down the water column.
Really cool and simple. Love it Matt. Thanks. 😉
Appreciate it Clyde!
You can double use of the comb on your beard!
Ha! I've restarted my goatee so I'll at least have something to brush soon. :-)
very nice
Appreciate it Mark!
Nice ant tie Matt. That will kill the panfish here on the eastern shore. No trout around here.
Oh yeah Jan, panfish will love this thing! Of course the bluegill and sunfish around here will eat anything they can fit in their mouth. :-)
Nice one Matt! Looks a lot like some of the flies I saw in Kentucky ( i know its an ant pattern though)
Thanks Sarge! And yep, the good ol' carpenter ants. They're everywhere. :-)
Nice video Matt. I cant see black ants worth a dime. So i generally always fish them with a yarn indicator or a hopper pattern (hey, its terrestial season 😁). There is a deerhair beetle pattern that is just like this that i tend to have a little better luck with. You should give it a try.
Thanks! I'll definitely look for a deer hair beetle. I do love fishing beetles but the only ones I've ever tied were out of foam.
This has to be a panfish killer as well? Man it is a great looking ant. Great job of tying this Matt. Being new to fly fishing, the double rig would unnerve me. I’m afraid that would be an open invitation to tangle time. As for a strike indicator, what would be the best? Great video. Thank you.
ROCK N’ ROLL 🎸 🐜
✨🎣💫
Rock on Brian!
You’re getting WILD 😜 ..... with the New Music Matr ✨ 🎣 💫
Excellent.Perfect as a beetle as well. :-) Would a small poly yarn sighter be good for a small wing and visibility?
I think it would Terry, but I've always been hesitant to put anything too bright on top of a fly that often sinks down a few inches. But I'm probably being too picky and the fish wouldn't care at all. :-)
Good evening Sir Matt, I love it, I have a friend who wants me to tie him up some 🐜 ants I'll throw in some of these. I'm wondering if a bullet head deer hair will look nice on the front segments
Cool Edward! I think a bullet head would look fine if you kept it small enough. But the beauty of this fly is how simple it is. And BTW, I just saw your email. I'll try to think up something that uses a few colors of bucktail. :-)
@@SavageFlies 😊
Good morning Matt. Just sitting on my deck with a coffee watching your video. I’ve seen some foam ants but that’s the first deer hair ant I can recall seeing. No exaggeration when you said simple. Do you just tie it in black or have you tried other colors? We don’t have any stream or river trout fishing where I live just lake fishing. I haven’t had much luck throwing 2 flies, I break them off quite often. Anyway today was supposed to be fishing but now they are calling for thunderstorms so I’m thinking open lake, graphite rod….hmmm tomorrow looks better. Take care Matt.
Well good luck if you get out tomorrow John! And yes, I've tied this in a rust/red color to use if I stumble across a section of water where I see red ants. But honestly, I don't think the color matters as much to the fish as the profile. If they see a silhouette that looks like an ant, they're going to think it's an ant. I'll bet we could tie purple or blue ants and they would work fine. As long as it's a dark color. I'm not sure a white ant would work. :-)