A scourge or a gift, depends on your perspective, the Spruce Moth has made a resounding comeback. Like many other examples in nature; once ...
A scourge or a gift, depends on your perspective, the Spruce Moth has made a resounding comeback. Like many other examples in nature; once thought to no longer be important in its eco-system the spruce moth is once again making itself relevant. Its range consists of Rocky Mountains from Arizona, New Mexico, northward through Montana and Canada, spreading west to Oregon and Washington; in recent years pushing through forests in Alaska. It had virtually disappeared from the thoughts of fly fishers, now calendars are being marked to fish this summer bonanza.
The spruce moth exists wherever there are conifer forests. It hatches as the spruce bud worm in the bark of trees in late summer, spending all winter dormant, they being feeding when trees begin exhibiting new growth. The only part of their year long life cycle that is on interest to fly fishers is after they emerge from a ten day period of chrysalis incubation into winged adults. Then comes the frenetic for a mate which for some unexplained reason tends to happen over trout infested waters which is one thing foresters and fishers can all agree is nothing short of spectacular.
Clumsy big fliers swarming over late summer trout infested waters; throw in an unpredictable summer wind and you have an event occurring for seemingly no other reason than to present a gift for the fly fisher.
The Spruce Moth experienced tough times for 20 plus years in the 80’s through the 90’s. A series of events including hard late frosts wreaked havoc on their year long life cycle. When they began to recover in the 2000’s they were relatively unfished. But like wildfire they have caught on and you can expect fairly thick crowds during their presence; which roughly coincides with your local Trico hatch. This allows for some outstanding two fly action, if so inclined, usually peaking in Mid-August, but both events can go off anytime from late July through mid-September.
Flies include of course the Spruce Moth, but sometimes fished more often are Elk Hair Caddis, Goddard Caddis, and Stimulator.
The spruce moth exists wherever there are conifer forests. It hatches as the spruce bud worm in the bark of trees in late summer, spending all winter dormant, they being feeding when trees begin exhibiting new growth. The only part of their year long life cycle that is on interest to fly fishers is after they emerge from a ten day period of chrysalis incubation into winged adults. Then comes the frenetic for a mate which for some unexplained reason tends to happen over trout infested waters which is one thing foresters and fishers can all agree is nothing short of spectacular.
Clumsy big fliers swarming over late summer trout infested waters; throw in an unpredictable summer wind and you have an event occurring for seemingly no other reason than to present a gift for the fly fisher.
The Spruce Moth experienced tough times for 20 plus years in the 80’s through the 90’s. A series of events including hard late frosts wreaked havoc on their year long life cycle. When they began to recover in the 2000’s they were relatively unfished. But like wildfire they have caught on and you can expect fairly thick crowds during their presence; which roughly coincides with your local Trico hatch. This allows for some outstanding two fly action, if so inclined, usually peaking in Mid-August, but both events can go off anytime from late July through mid-September.
Flies include of course the Spruce Moth, but sometimes fished more often are Elk Hair Caddis, Goddard Caddis, and Stimulator.
