tying

Hot Spots

By Jeff Morgan

A small addition to your fly can improve it's performance by 400%. Not only that, it mimics nature.

n the world of aquatic insects, the predominant colors are muted browns, olives, and grays. You'd think that a bright orange spot would be as common as a tie-died tuxedo.

However, "hot spots"-- accents of bright color--often occur in the underwater foods consumed by trout. For example, the reproductive organs of female Alloperla stoneflies (green stoneflies) often become bright red prior to egg laying. The egg sac on Capnia stoneflies (brown stoneflies) is whitish-gray. Leeches commonly have red, yellow, or orange spots or lines on their bodies. Orange can be naturally found in midge pupae, as blood is pumped to the wings prior to emergence.

Why Orange Scuds Work So Well

Some anglers know that orange spots occur on scuds; most of these anglers believe those spots are egg sacs. But last year I noticed orange blotches on scuds well outside their spawning season. After some research I found out that the orange blotches were caused by a parasite, Pomphorhyncus laevis. This common parasite infects the scud's intestinal tract and turns it bright orange, which makes the scud more conspicuous and thus more likely to be eaten by trout.

Scientists in Ireland and the United States have run tests on these "orange spot" scuds, noting that the color change (and not simply the changed odor or movement of infected scuds) made them about six times more likely to be eaten by trout than normal scuds! Due to the widespread nature of this parasite, I have added orange spots to about 75% of my scud patterns.

Orange on Midges

A few years ago I took stomach samples from dozens of trout caught on near-surface chironomid imitations. The trouts' stomachs were filled with squirming chironomids--nearly all of them with orange wingpads.

Since then I have used orange-spot imitations exclusively in the upper three feet of the water column during chironomid emergences. When teamed with a similar size without a hot spot, the orange-spotted patterns catch 4-5 times as many trout as the non-spotted fly..

Clues to What's Really Happening

Sometimes hot spots or bright patterns can give a you clue as to what trout are feeding on. A few summers ago I was fishing on a medium-sized stillwater. I was picking up trout in about 20 feet of water on a Red Tag, a European grayling wet fly with a brown hackle, peacock body, and a short, bright red antron tail.

No other pattern in my box would work, so I pumped the stomachs of these fish to see what they could possibly be feeding on. Their stomachs (and mouths and gill rakers) were loaded with reddish-orange Daphnia. The bright red butt on the fly likely appeared like an aggregation of Daphnia, which trout often feed on in the cooler depths during the "dog days" of summer. I converted to an all-red leech trimmed down to almost nothing but a picked-out body and proceeded to consistently pick up trout that I never would have found if not for a hot-spot pattern.

The Curiosity Factor

Of course, many times hot-spot patterns work with little or no connection to a natural process. They simply arouse the curiosity of trout. Since trout can only pick up and play with things with their mouths, curiosity can be an effective stimulus for anglers to take advantage of.

Some anglers fear that hot spots will put down trout, yet this happens less often than you might think. Hot spots will certainly put down trout that are feeding selectively, but this is the time to throw the realistic patterns, not flashy attractors. However, when trout are between hatches and are feeding opportunistically, a hot spot will stand out, drawing more interest and moving trout a greater distance to take your pattern. Anytime you would rationally use an attractor, a hot-spot pattern could be equally, if not more, effective.

What Materials to Use

What should anglers use to create hot spots? Well, any bright material that holds its color well can be effective. I prefer bright Uni-Stretch, Flashabou, plastic, or glass beads, or painted brass beadheads. One of my favorite materials is orange Ice Dub; I incorporate it into many of my patterns.

Whatever material you use, it's critical that it not bleed its color; that's always a danger with bright dyes. If this happens, the fly will not have a hot spot; it will have an extended rash that will eventually tint the entire fly a color you don't want.

Where to Place Hot Spots

Where should you place hot spots on your fly? While the head and tail work well, I like to place them in the middle of the body because it mimics natural processes, such as the color effects of intestinal parasites and foods.

Another reason to put hot spots in the middle is that most commercial flies that use hot spots put them at the head or tail (for example, the Hot Butt Caddis). With increasingly wary trout in every fishery, you'll do better if your fly doesn't resemble the commercial standards used by the mass of anglers.

Hot Spot Patterns

Bright Butt Prince
CDC Hot Spot Pheasant Tail
Diseased Deer Hair Scud

See also the Hot Spot Pheasant Tail and Queen Jane midge pupa.

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 04/21/2003.

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Bright Butt Prince

Diseased Deer Hair Scud

CDC Hot Spot Pheasant Tail

Queen Jane Midge

Hot Spot Pheasant Tail