Ants, ants, ants, ants…

Summertime, and the living is easy…

… except it’s effing hot here, and water is going to be lacking everywhere. In such harsh conditions, when nothing hatches, you can often rely on ants. They don’t care about heat, or anything else for that matter. They do their stuff, fall in, and get eaten. Counting on this, we thought it would be appropriate to find a good ant pattern. At first, I wanted to post  Weilenmann’s winged ant, because he’s still my absolute model for efficient minimalist tying. But as he himself says, the trouble when you fish such minute black flies is to see them. And if you’ve burned your eyes in dark libraries over forbidden volumes, like I did, the meager Zlon fibers he uses for a wing won’t help much.

Now, as usual, Grand Maester Davie McPhail, the Da Vinci of fly tying vids, has what you need. But just a fair warning. If you’re like me, an average tyer at best, you should know that when McPhail has to redo a move and says “juss take yer time”, you will* cry trying to do the same. But when he says (like here when tying off the hackle) “… something you’ve got to practice”, you know it’s time to get a refill on chlorazepate.