{{+1}}Ant – black{{-1}}
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If it's a hot day, a warm balmy night, if water is rising over previously dry ground or almost any time for that matter you can get huge hatches of ants. They vary in colour but the dominant hatches are of black meat ants.
Meat ants are of the genus Iridomyrmex and there are about 60 species in Australia. Their general appearance is black with a reddish brown head. They are typically 5mm to 10mm in length with the dominant size being around 8mm and often build large nests underground with sand or gravel mounded around the entrances to the nest. Most ants that build trails to their feeding grounds are meat ants. They are quite aggressive and determined and as well as being scavengers and predators they farm aphids and scale insects in much the same way as farmer tends cows i.e. they protect them and move them around from place to place so they can feed and produce nectar for the ants to harvest.
When the fish are feeding on ants they just sup the insects down one by one often at the exclusion of all other food sources.
The best technique for ant feeders is to grease your leader except for the last 60 cm or so and to cover individual fish or place your fly amongst the naturals in the path of feeding fish.
Materials red ant
Hook | Thread | Body | Legs and feelers | Head |
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Size 12 Knapek Dry | Black cotton | Black cotton treated with fly floatant | Black hackle | Rust coloured thread |
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