there are four major groups of trout stream insects that hatch in or near the water you
don't need to be able to identify them that closely entomology has scared more people away
from fly fishing than anything except knots but it does help to identify the insects into their broad
groups or orders because each one has a different life cycle and trout don't always respond to
every stage of their life the most important trout stream insects are mayflies caddisflies stoneflies
and midges you can get into more detail on these insects if you want and it can help because
hatches change with the season and it doesn't hurt to know about each one but for basic knowledge
just being able to tell the difference between these is important in most rivers mayflies are
the most important trout stream insect they live as larvae for almost a full year under water
and then rise to the surface to hatch into what we call a dunn or a sub adult these flies then
fly into nearby trees mold and turn into the full adult called a spinner in a day or two
which then return to the water and lay their eggs
trout eat the nymphs or larvae throughout the season but they only have access to the adults
when they rise to the surface when they flood around the water after they first hatch and then
when they return to the river to lay eggs because the adults then fall to the water and die
but when the flies hatch or return to lay eggs they're concentrated in vast numbers at once
and trout take advantage of the insects and feed with abandon in fact trout often lose their
normal caution at the height of a hatch and can be approached more easily which is another reason we
love hatches so mayfly spinners are the final egg laying form of the mayfly and they hover over the
riffles they do this mating dance and they're kind of they kind of bounce up and down and you'll see
them hit the water occasionally eventually they're all going to fall to the water and trout love them
so you know if you see these spinners over the water you want to try to grab one to see about
what size and what color they are because it's hard to tell when they're in the air
just exactly what color and size they are so just take your hat and swipe at them grab one like
i did here and now later on if the spinners fall to the water i know what fly to put on
he's chomping wow that's more like it
get out of that moss get out of that moss
so we have had a lot of trouble catching these fish they got really really snotty and um what
i did was i went to a longer tippet and a smaller fly and sometimes that will do the trick for you
trying to use side pressure here to to lead the fish both ways i hate having a fish that's that's
straight downstream from me because the fly pulls out more easily there so it's a little tough at
this angle to keep side pressure i'm going to have to eventually bring them straight up um to get
them close to the boat but if i get him up here then i can side pressure him right into the net
so he's ready so i'm just going to slide them in and addies hopefully yeah
gonna net them thank you eddie thank you for the great boat positioning you know fishing during
a hatch from a boat the positioning of the boat is absolutely critical and it's not like you're
waiting you can move around you have to put the boat in the right place and stay there and addy
just slid that boat in beautifully right in range enabled us to get a good presentation of the fish
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