tying

Sticklebacks

By Jeff Morgan

Sticklebacks are the most important single species of stillwater trout food, espcecially for big, predatory trout such as those in Oregon's Crane Prairie. Here are two new patterns to try out.

f stillwater fly anglers were forced to choose one trout food to imitate, what would they pick? Many would choose chironomids. Others would likely opt for leeches. A handful might pick Callibaetis or damselflies.

Those are all effective, valid choices. But they miss one of the most important stillwater trout foods: sticklebacks.

No species of trout food has a wider distribution than the three-spine stickleback. They are the only prey species that is distributed across the entire northern hemisphere, from tiny, intermittent California streams to the St. Lawrence Estuary. Even the open ocean is not out of the question--one sample was collected almost 500 miles from the Alaskan shoreline!

This habitat diversity makes sticklebacks the most important of all trout forage fish--more important than sculpins, chub, or shiners.

What Do They Look Like?

Threespine sticklebacks only reach five to six centimeters in length (about two-and-a-half inches). They are distinguished by the three spines on their backs, two in front of the dorsal fin and one at the front of the tailfin.

Generally they are olive-backed, with pale olive to silvery flanks and a silvery-white belly. Breeding males have a brilliant crimson belly and big, bright blue eyes. Accounting for these two colorations during the spring can make for extremely effective imitations.

To humans, the spines of the stickleback seem to be a distinguishing feature, much like the claws of a crayfish. When the stickleback is swimming along, however, those spines lie down along the back in a streamlined fashion. If a prey fish, such a big trout, were to see these spines, the trout might think twice about consuming the stickleback. Thus there is no advantage to adding this feature to an imitation.

In reality, the spines aren't much of a deterrent because trout don't eat a stickleback the way we chew up a fish stick. Like other baitfish and leeches, trout regularly charge sticklebacks and stun them. They then circle around and suck in the stickleback as it is motionless. Since trout normally swallow baitfish head first, those spines rarely come into play.

Imitating Sticklebacks

If you want to imitate the spines, there are a few different paths you can take. You could use goose biot, deer hair, or feathers (like an olive Hungarian partridge feather) lacquered with Flexament and cut to the proper proportions.

While mimicking spines is a matter of personal preference, the stickleback's large eyes are vital to a good imitation. It's been proven many times that large eyes are a target for predators throughout the animal world, and you would be amiss to omit them from stickleback patterns. I like to use large 3-D molded eyes. Alternatively, you could paint black-on-light-blue eyes on clear plastic.

The unique body shape, particularly the thin taper before the tail, is often overlooked by tiers. This thin rear third of the body distinguishes sticklebacks from other fish just as much as its spines do. The front two-thirds is flat and broad. The pectoral fins and tail fins are average sized, though the tapered body makes the tail motion appear more pronounced.

You can use a tuft of marabou or ostrich herl to represent the tail. I also like an extended-body style with mylar tubing for the thin body. This adds flash and motion to the fly and is a unique body style that can be fun to tie.

Color and size are of other significant considerations for tiers. Most of your patterns should be an olive-cream color, though patterns that are a dingy silver or dingy gold can be surprisingly effective at times. You will want a few patterns with a red belly to match the red-breasted males.

A size 8 or 10 pattern will be your mainstay, though larger and smaller patterns can also be productive.

Presentation

Sticklebacks are usually active in the afternoons, though "active" is a relative term for this fish. According to Samuel McGinnis in gFreshwater Fishes of California, the sticklebacks "feed primarily on small invertebrates that they pick off the substrate after a series of jerky advances, between which they hang motionless in the water." This fluttering motion, with frequent pauses, surely makes them a conspicuous target for hungry trout. To imitate it, use short fluttering strips interspersed with five to ten second pauses.

Sticklebacks rarely venture into water deeper than four or five feet, so present your pattern in shallow areas.

Pet Sticklebacks?

Sticklebacks make excellent aquarium specimens. They have interesting mating rituals and tolerate the low oxygen of a home fish tank.

Nothing helps the fly tier more than a living model to observe when constructing imitations, whether it is a stickleback or a sculpin or an aquatic insect. I plan on starting a collection as soon as I reside in one place for more than six months!

Patterns

Olive Stickleback
Big Tail Stickleback

Jeff Morgan has written many articles for Westfly, mostly on entomology and fly tying. He is the author of An Angler's Guide to the Oregon Cascades and Small Stream Fly Fishing. Jeff is currently a graduate student at Stanford University, where he is finishing his PhD in History.

Uploaded 10/09/2003.

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Olive Stickleback

Big Tail Stickleback