Tipula maxima - Large Crane Fly

Large Crane fly

On bright and breezy autumn days, the daddy long-legs get blown onto rivers and lakes in big enough numbers to cause quite a stir in the trout world. These are large flies with wingspan up to 6 cm or more, and often the largest trout, which generally feed below the surface, will rise to take them.

Most cranefly species are terrestrial, although some of the smaller ones are in fact of aquatic origin and do, therefore, return to the water to lay their eggs.

Artificial daddy long-legs This very effective pattern was devised by Derek Hoskin. The body is of deer hair fibres, the thorax is ethafoam, coloured by a waterproof pen, the legs are knotted pheasant tail fibres, and the wings are hackle points. It takes time to tie really good imitative patterns such as this, but the rewards can be very great indeed.