Metallic Green Beetle - Originator : Marc
Griffiths | Size: 14
The manuka beetle, Pyronata festiva, has an attractive metallic green back and rusty brown underside and legs. Such large numbers are at times blown onto lakes and rivers during December and January that they constitute a terrestrial "hatch".
The late Norman Marsh once said, "The flyfisherman who fails to carry the odd green beetle in his fly box does so at his peril".
The problem with many commercial patterns is that the sides, the part the trout sees, are dull or even black.
Others tend to be hackled, which create an unrealistic footprint on the water.
The Wildflies pattern is tough, it floats low in the surface film and has the right colour green in all the right places.
