Spotted Tussock Moth

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I had the coolest find today on the NFYR, lophocampa maculata ~ spotted tussock moth caterpillar. We found it in the middle of the river on a dry small rock and thought that was odd until it did the most incredible thing. It crawled down to the waters edge and took a ride down the currents for quite a ways until it found another rock, then crawled out and investigated a bit before taking another ride down the river. My first thought was what a fascinating piece of evolution this moth went through to be able to do this amazing feat, secondly; if it's floating down the river then the trout can see it as well! I'm thinking a large buzz hackle in the appropriate color scheme would do just fine. Regardless if a trout will take the caterpillar or not this was indeed a fantastic observation.

Jon.

Another custom woolley bugger?

Thanks Jon....

Interesting discovery. I've always thought that they would sink. Natural hackling, I guess....

I have a pattern in my collection I bought from a fly shop that used to be on Hwy 299 just outside Willow Creek in the late 60's. It's a wooly worm of the same colors and pattern tied on a Mustad, 7970 hook (remember how heavy that hook was??).

Don't see them around here (mid-town) very often anymore.... Too Bad.

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Natural hackling, I guess....

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That caterpillar was floating like a cork, and it had the best dry fly hackle mother earth can make.

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