Traveling Sedge

LARVA SIZE: 20-40 mm

LARVA COLOR: Brown

PUPA SIZE: 20-40 mm

PUPA COLOR: Brown, green, yellow, or gray

ADULT SIZE: 20-40 mm

ADULT COLOR: Brown, green, yellow, or gray body; brown wing

OTHER CHARACTERISTICS: Body, wing, and shroud colors can vary, so it's always best to check a natural insect where you are fishing. Body and wing colors will darken when the insect is ready to lay eggs.

About the Traveling Sedge

The most famous member of the Phryganeidae family is the genus Banksiola, commonly called the traveling sedge. It is so-named because the adults often runacross the surface, and a skated fly pattern that imitates that behavior can be spectacularly slammed by large trout. What fly angler can resist that kind of opportunity?

Larvae of this family are crawlers, not swimmers, so it's difficult to fish a larval imitation. A pupa pattern presented with a lift-and-settle or vertical retrieve can be productive during a hatch of traveling sedges.

During a hatch, newly-emerged adult traveling sedges will run across the surface of the lake. All that activity from such a large, tasty morsel does not go un-noticed by trout. Since there is the danger of an escaping meal, trout waste no time and attack with vigor. Thus, an imitation skated across the surface is a good tactic. Don't skimp on your leader's tippet size!

Female traveling sedges lay their eggs by plopping on the surface and releasing them. This is another opportunity to fish a dry fly, but this time you just let it sit there quietly.

STAGE

PATTERN

SIZE/
COLOR

PRESENTATION

WHERE

Pupa

Sparkle Pupa, Soft Hackle, Zug Bug, Z Wing Caddis

4-10/Brown, green , yellow, gray

Slow retrieve, Verticle retrieve

Lakes; backwaters and slow sections of rivers

Adult

Elk Hair Caddis, Stimulator

4-10/Body: brown, green, yellow, gray

Skating

Lakes; backwaters and slow sections of rivers

Goddard Caddis

4-10/natural

Skating

Lakes; backwaters and slow sections of rivers

Egg-layer

Elk Hair Caddis, Stimulator

4-10/Body: brown, green, yellow, gray

Count-down-and-retrieve

Lakes; backwaters and slow sections of rivers