There are times you may encounter a lot of different insects hatching and other times when there are few to nothing hatching. There are a few insects that hatch during the Fall and Winter. Most of them take place during the Spring and Summer months of the year. Of course, this varies greatly with the section of the country you fish.
It is a fact that many anglers don’t really know how to go about fishing hatches, or for that matter, what is important about them. This isn’t going into any detail, or any specific aquatic insects. It is intended to point out just a few basic tips about how to go about fishing the hatches.
1. Why Hatches Are Important
When an aquatic insect hatches, it must come out of its hiding place – from underneath a rock, crevices between rocks, out of a grass or moss bed, or in some cases, a burrow. In order to hatch, meaning emerge into an adult insect, it must develop its wing pad and either accent to the surface, or crawl out of the water to emerger. It becomes directly exposed to the trout, or a sitting duck, you might say. The insects are very easy for the trout to acquire during the hatch. It may have to dry its wings in order to fly off the water.
2. What Flies Should You Have During Hatches?
You should have flies that imitate all stages of life that trout eat of all the aquatic insects that may hatch while you are on the water. For mayflies, that includes nymphs, emergers, duns and spinners. For stoneflies, that includes nymphs and adults. For caddisflies, that includes larva, pupa and adults. For midges, that includes larva, pupa and adults.
3. When To Fish Nymphs or Dry Flies (Below water or on the surface)
I’m often asked, when to fish a nymph, or larva, or dry fly during a hatch. It depends somewhat on the particular insect, but in general, you should fish a mayfly or stonefly nymph, or a caddisfly or midge larvae during the morning hours, and a dry fly to imitate the mayfly dun, adult stonefly, or adult caddis or midge, during the afternoons. Early in the season, most of them hatch during the warmest part of the day. During the mid to late afternoon, most mayfly spinners return to the water to mate, deposit eggs and die. Caddisflies and Stoneflies usually deposit their eggs from the middle to late in the day.
4. What Fly Should You Fish First?
It depends on the time you start fishing, but always the one that imitates the most plentiful and available insect at the time. In the case of multiple hatches, and there is often more than one insect that may hatch the day you fish, and assuming you start in the morning, fish the nymph or larva of that insect, or in the case when other types of foods are plentiful and more available, such as terrestrial insects, crustaceans, or baitfish, fish imitations of that food. If you are not sure which food or insects are most available for a given stream and time, you can always email or call us at Perfect Fly, and we can help you.
5. Where Should You Fish The Stream?
Some trout streams are ninety miles or longer. Most all are at least five to ten miles. Whatever insects are hatching at the time, rest assured they are not hatching in the same place on the stream. They are usually hatching only in a small section of a stream ranging from a few hundred yards to maybe as much as five miles. In cases where the elevation of the stream changes a lot, they usually start at the lowest elevation and move upstream each day, remaining in one section for only a very few days.
6. The Type of Water Is Also Important
Different types of aquatic insects hatch in different types of water. Burrower, crawler, and swimming mayflies live and hatch in slow to moderate water. Clinger mayflies live and hatch in fast water. Stoneflies mostly all live and hatch in fast water. Caddisflies hatch in different types of water depending on the species. When you are fishing a stream and a certain insect is hatching, spend your time only in the type of water that insect lives and hatches in.
There is much more you should know about hatches, but hopefully, these tips will help make your next trip more productive. Each of our Perfect Flies has a page of information under the info link on our website on how, when and where to fish them. If you are planning a trip and don’t know what insects are hatching at the time you will be fishing, send us an email, or call us and we will be glad to help you.
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