Brown beetle mayhem

Brown beetle mayhem
From mid-October onwards-brown beetles emerge from the ground and take flight. Being feeble fliers they often crash onto the water when the breeze blows, and become an important part of the trout’s diet in may lowland streams. Brown beetles often start flying about half an hour before dusk, and just after dusk, so the fishing can be intense over this window of opportunity.

Often the trout will rise on a station and maintain that spot for some time. Look close along the banks, as often the trout will choose a secluded spot to rise from. Make sure that you arrive at the river at least half an hour before dusk. The fly should be cast several metres upstream from the rising trout. Takes are often gentle slurps, so a slow, but steady striking action is best. Often it is important to have a good landing net, as rivers with steep, overhanging grassy banks, are often the best ones for fishing.

About an hour after the start brown beetle rise the trout will stop rising. At these times it is worth swinging a small, but heavily weighted woolly bugger in the current to attract the attention of trout taking sunken brown beetles below the surface. Also at dawn, often the trout will be feeding on sunken beetles, and fishing a brown beetle nymph is highly effective.

The brown beetle is mainly a lowland speceis, so it is best to check out lowland rivers around productive farmland. But in the high country an larger speceis of brown beetle will hatch out, over much of the year and blind fishing a “brown beetle nymph” underneath the foam line, or off any points projecting out into the lake can be highly effective. Brown beetle fishing is often best from mid November, and in December, and is an angling experience that I associate with Christmas time.