Let’s Talk Bugs

by Tom Lager

Certainly as you have walked through the grass or shrubs along streams you have stirred up terrestrials, they scurry along or jump about. Occasionally they become float-some on the stream surface and eventfully food for trout. Grasshoppers are some of my favorites; perhaps because they make such an easy sight as they jump and fly. Recently, I have become interested in crickets as a food item for trout and as a fly pattern.

The most common cricket in our area is the black field cricket (Gryllus sp.) The one I pictured below is typical, about an inch long, with strong back legs and long antennae; a great size for serious trout food. They are good jumpers but don’t fly even though they have wings. They likely end up in streams by accidentally falling in from banks, since I have never observed them climbing on over-hanging grasses and they don’t jump as far and carelessly as grasshoppers.

They begin their life cycle in late summer and early fall. Females lay about 300 eggs in the soil, which lay dormant through winter and hatch in spring. Adult crickets hibernate in late fall, but usually fail to survive the winter. Crickets feed on plant tissues, dead insects and seeds; in your garage they love paper and old cloth, especially if the cloth is stained by food or perspiration.

Adults live in shallow burrows beneath stones or among tufts of plants. They are most active after dark, which limits their accidental contribution to the trout energy cycle. However, at night males begin their serenading of potential mates. Their familiar singing also can be heard occasionally in the daytime. Females don’t sing. Male crickets have a heavy vein with a rough surface at the front edge of each wing. Just like a bow drawn across a violin, the upper side of the wing is used as a comb and produces sound when it is rubbed across the rough vein of the other wing. Both wings are elevated during this operation so that wing membranes can act as sounding boards. Air temperature influences chirping rates; the warmer the night, the faster they chirp. Each species has a distinct song – makes sense doesn’t it, since each species is

to be genetically unique from each other.

Whitlock’s cricket has received positive notoriety in the press and looks acceptable. The idea of a high floating pattern defies experience though, in that crickets do not float in a high profile and easily become entrained in the water. They lack the structure and surface tension characteristic of adult aquatic insects, which enables them to float with ease. Try floating a cricket in a glass of water and you will see the effect; dried-up squashed specimens from your garage floor don’t count – yeah, they float but they are dam hard to tie and trout don’t recognize them as food.

This reminds me of the story about Betty and Sally. Betty, a trout fisher, and Sally, a beginning member of the chorus, were attending Sunday service the other day. This was one of those warm sun-filled mornings when church windows are open, the breeze is gentle, you are relaxed and your mind migrates to topics of God’s creation, blessings bestowed on his people or maybe even other topics. But in Betty’s case she heard the crickets outside in the fields – their singing brought back fond memories of September fishing. Sally, sitting next to Betty, also had her ear tuned outside of church, hearing the choir from across the street at the other community church. Sally marveled at their singing and commented to Betty saying, “They really sing wonderfully this morning don’t they?” And in agreement Betty said in return, “Yes they do, I understand they do it all with their hind legs”.

Well, I think you get the picture, enjoy the sounds as long as you can before the frost locks them away until spring. Let that Whitlock pattern sink and tumble in the current and enjoy the experience. And take the time to lift the rock, turn the log and float the cricket down the stream – just for fun