What the heck are those fish eating?......Tips on Fishing a Hatch

 

Know what that's like?  I think we've all been there, at least if we're honest.  A hatch.....what does that mean?  I mean folks leave work early, call in sick (I know no one has done that), take a entire week's vacation- - -all to be on the water when an insect emergence likely guarantees a river full of rising fish gorging themselves on flies.  If you are a fly fisherman, its your mecca, your magic moment, and a moment of truth also.  "Hatch" is both a noun and a verb.  As a noun it refers to the whole occurence or cycle of a portion of the insects in a river coming to the surface, as a verb it refers to the splitting open of the loose nymph or larval skin, and the adult fly crawling out of this skin and flying off- - - only to eventually shed its skin one more time, come back to the river, mate, then lay eggs in the river and die.  No matter how you describe it, as a fly fisherman it is what you hope for.  It is your magic moment, that is, if you are prepared for it.

 

One reason that the character of the fishing and the way the fish feed changes is because it offers to the fish the opportunity to become what we call selective.  By the dictionary, to become selective means to become highly specific in activity, effect, or choice- - -that is, the fish are all of a sudden locked into an insect, even a particular stage of an insect, and they ingore anything that does not appear to be the same as the bugs they are feeding on.  It doesn't mean that they are difficult, selective implies a choice.  Fish that are not feeding are often erroneously referred to as being selective.  They are not being selective, they simply are not feeding at the present time.  "Selective" only applies to fish that are actually feeding.

 

Some of the more common mayflies to our area that you might see hatch, and that you might see fish feeding on selectively, are Baetis , Blue Quills , Hendricksons , Rotunda (sulphur), Invaria (sulphur), Dorothea (little Sulphur), Tiny Blue Wings / Pseudocloeon ,  and a Mahogany Dun (Isonychia) just to name a few.  Click here for a free printable hatch chart for the month of March.  These are mayflies, there are also midges, caddisflies, and stoneflies as well, but mayflies are a good place to focus as they are some of our more prominent hatches.  So, When it comes to matching a hatch, it might help to consider some of the tips if you are looking to raise your success rate........Learn more