FLYMPH FORUM

looks like duck gumbo is on the menu to me....

Good call Mike, those are in fact Merganser hens. I'm not certain why those guys shoot those, but knowing them, they don't waste any meat. I was given a drake Merganser last year that had beautiful feathers. Truly beautiful bird. Cormorants are a protected species, not really certain why though. I participated in a steelhead stocking a few years ago in one of our streams here and the word must have gotten out to the local Cormorant flock. They devoured the smolts just downstream of where we were stocking them. Their numbers may be low in some parts of the country, but their population sure doesn't seem low here in southeast Michigan.

Dave

. . . steelhead stocking a few years ago in one of our streams here and the word must have gotten out to the local Cormorant flock. They devoured the smolts just downstream of where we were stocking them.

Cormorants do the same or similar thing on the Winter stockings of rainbow trout into park ponds and streams. Fish maladaptive enough to float near the surface promptly get turned into rainbow sashimi.

Stupid Questions - Are the merganser crest feathers useful in tying? Has anybody used them for fly patterns?

The crest feathers reminded me somewhat of Jackdaw scalp feathers (but with more tan coloration). Seems like the crest feathers might be of use, in some spider patterns... Certainly worth a try...

Cormorants are slaughtering fish in Europe. They are protected here also. There are plenty of them (not the fish).

dd

Cormorants and pelicans are brutal on fish in Utah and Idaho. Only low water from irrigation or drought is harder on the fish population. Fish need to be 17" or 18" to escape the cormorants in the Snake River Basin.

My old friend and fishing buddy Jack told me about how the trout in the Green River refused to rise to hatching flies during the day out of fear of the birds. As soon as the cormorants and ospreys and pelicans and eagles quit flying for the day, the water would come alive with feeding fish.

SenecaLaker wrote: ↑Tue Feb 26, 2019 10:20 am Good call Mike, those are in fact Merganser hens. I'm not certain why those guys shoot those, but knowing them, they don't waste any meat. I was given a drake Merganser last year that had beautiful feathers.

Beautiful feathers, maybe. Back in my hunting days, I once shot a merganser. It was absolutely inedible. I'd certainly never shoot one again for the table.

This one works great for fall baetis, should work for bwo’s too.
Dun rooster for tail, olive tying thread for body “ribbed” with hares ear in a waxed dubbing loop, dun hen hackle. Dark cobblers wax to dull the effect of the rather bright olive thread I had at hand.
Hook here is an Allen dry fly #20.
Treat hackle with floatant for tricky risers.

Nice! Thanks for sharing "mamatried", and welcome aboard. This looks like a very effective pattern.