“Wake me up when September ends” is a song by Green Day, but if you happen to sleep through September, you’re missing out. Septembervej is a great month for a lot of reasons. But one of them is the Daddy Long Legs. They are busy right now, because it’s getting late for them to mate and lay their eggs. Much like mayflies, they don’t live for long after they emerge from the pupa, although a mayfly would think they live forever. Some mayflies live for just hours, Daddy Long Legs for up to two weeks.
They’re a terrestrial insect, so they’re only relevant for trout when they occasionally land on the surface. That happens most often when there’s wind. In late summer and early fall they’re most plentiful and an imitation is definitely worth having in the box. Daddy Long Legs habitat is almost everywhere, since their larvae live in the ground, so they can be found near any body of water or stream.
Loris Daddy Long Legs by Loris Zecchinello.
As far as being trout prey they have several things going against them. They’re large and not very good flyers, so they’re completely at the mercy of the wind. If they end on the water, they have a very hard time taking flight again and their size alone make them a good bite for a trout. As they try to take flight again, they usually thrash about all over the place, so they also draw a lot of attention to themselves. All in all traits that are only against you in a trout’s environment.
There are several families and species in many different sizes and there’s absolutely no need to get specific with an imitation. As far as size goes, somewhere in the middle of the size range of the insect is fine. I usually tie mine about 2-2,5cm long and one colour is fine and I go with tan.
An imitation with a little foam over the thorax is a good idea, because it can be very effective to fish them actively and foam helps keep the fly afloat.
The takes are often quite hard, so don’t use too thin a leader. And done’t pack them away too soon either. Trout “remember” then and even a while after they’re no longer on their wings, an imitation can still bring a trout to the surface. Here we have had Håkan Karsnäser to tie his italian-inspired version of a daddy long leg.
Daddy Long Leg by Tore Viggo Lillesolberg.