Hi Scott,Mosquito larvae are a relatively unimportant food for fresh water game fish. I can speak with more authority about Trout. Since mosquito larvae are fresh water insects the one insect that is most similar and by far the most important prey animals are the Chironomid pupae. They rise up slowly from the bottom buoyed up by the gases that form between the pre-emergent Gnat and the exterior pupal casing. They move very little; an occasional twitch. Fish them still or inch retrieves every minute or so. You can use the same flies as mosquito larvae/pupae but the trout normally ignore quicker moving mosquito imitation flies. A good compromise is a still born emergent Chironomid that floats in the surface film. Twitch 1 inch every few minutes.
Larry Waybright Trout fly fishing bum and fly tier. Based in Eastern WA and Northern IdahoI've caught 1000's of Rainbows from the quality fisheries Lakes in Central WA to 7 lb.s on #16 Chironomid pupae imitations
Date: Thu, 28 May 2009 08:43:57 -0700 (PDT) From: Scott Davis <unclescott at prodigy_net> Subject: Re: [Killietalk] foraging behavior To: killifish discussion list <killietalk at aka_org> Have you ever noticed how the killies will chase the pupae (the ones that look like commas on speed) before they will really go after the long, skinny larvae? It is a good thing, since it may be a matter of? minutes to a couple of hours before they are flying around the house. That chase can not be too energy efficient, but the jerky pupae movement just drives the fish wild. The overfed, under exercised (bored?) killies probably need the activity and stimulation anyway. ;) Some fishing lures sort of mimic that spastic, any-random-direction-is-good strategy. Wish one could make a lure (or surface fly) that exactly mimics the mosquito pupae.
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