Honey Bee Pattern

Is a honey bee pattern a solid one? Maybe in the fall when all the drones
are getting kicked out of the hives and dying in the cold?

My absolute best day fly fishing I was casting a honey bee and letting it
drift over a pocket and down a riffle at the bottom of the pocket. I got
hit almost every drift for the first 30 or 40 passes. That particular day
was mid summer, but I was wondering why it did so good for me. I had tried
three or four other patterns in the same spot before that one. I only saw
one actual bee on the water the whole day. In fact it was after I spotted
it that I tried the bee pattern.

--
Bob La Londe
http://www.YumaBassMan.com

"Bob La Londe" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
Is a honey bee pattern a solid one? Maybe in the fall when all the drones
are getting kicked out of the hives and dying in the cold?

My absolute best day fly fishing I was casting a honey bee and letting it
drift over a pocket and down a riffle at the bottom of the pocket. I got
hit almost every drift for the first 30 or 40 passes. That particular day
was mid summer, but I was wondering why it did so good for me. I had
tried three or four other patterns in the same spot before that one. I
only saw one actual bee on the water the whole day. In fact it was after
I spotted it that I tried the bee pattern.

--
Bob La Londe
http://www.YumaBassMan.com


One of those things that either work well or just don´t work at all, with
normally the latter being the case. It is also not certain that the trout
took it for a bee. They may have been feeding on beetles or similar, which
the pattern you used was a reasonable imitation of.

Trout will take bees, but they only relatively seldom fall on the water.
So, a bee pattern may be worth carrying, for the odd occasion when it might
occur, but I would not rely on it.

TL
MC

"Mike Connor" wrote in message
...

"Bob La Londe" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
Is a honey bee pattern a solid one? Maybe in the fall when all the
drones are getting kicked out of the hives and dying in the cold?

My absolute best day fly fishing I was casting a honey bee and letting it
drift over a pocket and down a riffle at the bottom of the pocket. I got
hit almost every drift for the first 30 or 40 passes. That particular
day was mid summer, but I was wondering why it did so good for me. I had
tried three or four other patterns in the same spot before that one. I
only saw one actual bee on the water the whole day. In fact it was after
I spotted it that I tried the bee pattern.

--
Bob La Londe
http://www.YumaBassMan.com


One of those things that either work well or just don´t work at all, with
normally the latter being the case. It is also not certain that the trout
took it for a bee. They may have been feeding on beetles or similar, which
the pattern you used was a reasonable imitation of.

Trout will take bees, but they only relatively seldom fall on the water.
So, a bee pattern may be worth carrying, for the odd occasion when it
might occur, but I would not rely on it.

I agree with all of that. However, it occurs to me that there must
occasionally be instances in which a relatively large number of drones falls
onto water after a nuptial flight. This might explain the odd case of fish
feeding on them, if not preferentially, then at least with some enthusiasm.

Wolfgang

"Wolfgang" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
SNIP
Trout will take bees, but they only relatively seldom fall on the water.
So, a bee pattern may be worth carrying, for the odd occasion when it
might occur, but I would not rely on it.

I agree with all of that. However, it occurs to me that there must
occasionally be instances in which a relatively large number of drones
falls onto water after a nuptial flight. This might explain the odd case
of fish feeding on them, if not preferentially, then at least with some
enthusiasm.

Wolfgang


May be of interest;
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/bees/making.html

http://koning.ecsu.ctstateu.edu/Plan...bees/bees.html

For quite a number of years, an old Russian emigrant had a few hives in my
garden. My house was surrounded by Linden trees, and the bees apparently
produce very good honey from these. We got a large pot of honey from him
every year. It really was good.

He told me that bees only mate in certain places, and never over water. I
don´t know whether this is true or not, but the old man was very
knowledgeable indeed about everything to do with bees. He also knew of a few
"mating places" in the area, and he was going to show me, but somehow we
never got around to doing it when the bees were mating.

TL
MC

I keep bees myself, Mike, as did my father and grandfather, and I try
to keep up with the research. There's amazingly little known about
exactly where bees mate - drones tend to hover in groups quite high up,
and they're not easy to research, especially when the Queen only mates
once. Bees are very unpredictable beasties.

I'd say there certainly isn't enough known to say that they 'never'
mate in a particular sort of place.

I don't see why it should only be drones that are taken. Workers only
have a life outside the hive of three or four weeks, and they generally
just collapse from exhaustion somewhere in the field. Bees need water
(it's important to give them a source,otherwise they may decide to use
your neighbours' children's paddling pool), and you have to provide
them with corks etc to float in the their water supply otherwise
they're liable to drown.

Having said that I generally keep my eyes open for honey bees wherever
I am, and don't remember seeing any on the water. They tend to prefer
stagnant -even quite revoltingly so - sources to clean ones, and I
don't think they'd like a nice clean trout stream.

Lazarus

"lazarus cooke" wrote in message
oups.com...
...I don't see why it should only be drones that are taken....

Drones was my suggestion. It wasn't meant to imply exclusivity. Merely a
passing thought on a possible scenario that might account for fish bellies
occasionally being full of bees.

Wolfgang

"lazarus cooke" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
oups.com...
I keep bees myself, Mike, as did my father and grandfather, and I try
to keep up with the research. There's amazingly little known about
exactly where bees mate - drones tend to hover in groups quite high up,
and they're not easy to research, especially when the Queen only mates
once. Bees are very unpredictable beasties.

I'd say there certainly isn't enough known to say that they 'never'
mate in a particular sort of place.

I don't see why it should only be drones that are taken. Workers only
have a life outside the hive of three or four weeks, and they generally
just collapse from exhaustion somewhere in the field. Bees need water
(it's important to give them a source,otherwise they may decide to use
your neighbours' children's paddling pool), and you have to provide
them with corks etc to float in the their water supply otherwise
they're liable to drown.

Having said that I generally keep my eyes open for honey bees wherever
I am, and don't remember seeing any on the water. They tend to prefer
stagnant -even quite revoltingly so - sources to clean ones, and I
don't think they'd like a nice clean trout stream.

Lazarus


Oh I would not presume to know much about it. I talked a lot with the old
Russian guy on occasion, mainly about his bees, but sometimes about other
things, he had gone through some terrible hardship, but as his German was
not exactly brilliant, and my Russian is basically non-existent, we did have
some communication problems.

One thing he told me stuck in my mind, and that was that bee stings make a
man extremely virile. He never wore any protection at all when working with
the bees, and was stung quite often. It did not seem to bother him at all.
Don´t know if the "virility" thing is true either, and I am unlikely to find
out, as quite a while ago, when I was stung a couple of times, I had an
"anaphylactic shock". Indeed, I have been since obliged to carry an
emergency injection kit.

My hypersensitivity seems to have "worn off" now at least, as the last
couple of times I was stung or bitten ( mainly F§$%&/ horse flies!) I did
not need the kit, and the resultant swelling etc was far less. I have also
had a couple of deer ticks in the meatime, and my reaction was far less
violent compared to the first few times. I still carry the kit though, as
the first two times nearly killed me.

TL
MC

I keep bees myself, Mike, as did my father and grandfather, and I try
to keep up with the research. There's amazingly little known about
exactly where bees mate - drones tend to hover in groups quite high up,
and they're not easy to research, especially when the Queen only mates
once. Bees are very unpredictable beasties.

I'd say there certainly isn't enough known to say that they 'never'
mate in a particular sort of place.

I don't see why it should only be drones that are taken. Workers only
have a life outside the hive of three or four weeks, and they generally
just collapse from exhaustion somewhere in the field. Bees need water
(it's important to give them a source,otherwise they may decide to use
your neighbours' children's paddling pool), and you have to provide
them with corks etc to float in the their water supply otherwise
they're liable to drown.

Having said that I generally keep my eyes open for honey bees wherever
I am, and don't remember seeing any on the water while I was fishing.
They tend to prefer stagnant -even quite revoltingly so - sources to
clean ones, and I don't think they'd like a nice clean trout stream.

Lazarus

Bees don't mate in the back seat of a 57 Chevy ?
Now something new to think about
"lazarus cooke" wrote in message
oups.com...
I keep bees myself, Mike, as did my father and grandfather, and I try
to keep up with the research. There's amazingly little known about
exactly where bees mate - drones tend to hover in groups quite high up,
and they're not easy to research, especially when the Queen only mates
once. Bees are very unpredictable beasties.

I'd say there certainly isn't enough known to say that they 'never'
mate in a particular sort of place.

I don't see why it should only be drones that are taken. Workers only
have a life outside the hive of three or four weeks, and they generally
just collapse from exhaustion somewhere in the field. Bees need water
(it's important to give them a source,otherwise they may decide to use
your neighbours' children's paddling pool), and you have to provide
them with corks etc to float in the their water supply otherwise
they're liable to drown.

Having said that I generally keep my eyes open for honey bees wherever
I am, and don't remember seeing any on the water while I was fishing.
They tend to prefer stagnant -even quite revoltingly so - sources to
clean ones, and I don't think they'd like a nice clean trout stream.

Lazarus

Is a honey bee pattern a solid one?

With remarkable timing, the current issue of Fly Tyer, which arrived
just today, contains an article on making bee patterns using foam.

vince