stone flies have yet a different life cycle in behavior like the other two they have a larval
stage under water but they don't hatch on the water's surface like mayflies and caddisflies
these insects crawl to streamside rocks and vegetation and hatch into adults out of the
water on the bank so the adults are not available as often to the trout however stonefly adults are
clumsy flyers and they often get blown into the water by the wind or they fall on the surface
and are also available to trout when they return to the water to lay eggs midges are
so small that they might seem insignificant but they can be an important source of trout food
in fact in tailwater rivers below dams they can be the primary source of trout food and if you fish
these rivers you better pay attention to midges bridges start life as a worm-like larvae that
trout eat in great quantities like caddisflies they have a pupa stage which is readily spotted by
the trout near the surface and easy to capture and like caddisflies midges fly away quickly once they
sprout their wings but trout do eat the adults as well especially when it's really cold or windy
and the flies have trouble taking off midges also return to the water to mate lay eggs and
die and they often form large clusters of from two to dozens of insects hooked together trout
eat these midge clusters and it allows you to fish a bigger fly when imitating these tiny insects how
did trout respond to these hatches well sometimes they don't respond which is very frustrating
maybe the water is too cold and the fish are reluctant to come to surface sometimes the
hatch is not heavy enough to interest trout maybe the trout are just acting like jerks
but when they do respond trout first begin to eat the nymphs close to the bottom as the
insects get active before their migration to the surface this is a good time to fish an imp
then as the insects begin to drift in the current as they rise to the surface trout
begin to intercept them more in mid water and will feed closer to the surface finally
the fish will feed at all levels or may even concentrate mostly on insects trapped at the
surface this is the height of the hatch when fish feed most actively and gives you some
of the best fishing because they lose most of their caution in their eagerness to feed
when insects first reach the surface they have two problems first the meniscus represents a
physical barrier to the insects and also at this point they need to emerge from their larval skin
and hatched into a winged adult this can happen quickly or it can take minutes trout know these
struggling insects are easy pickings and they seem to prefer them in this stage which we call
an emerger once the winged adults have emerged sometimes they ride the water for a long time
especially if it's cold or rainy on dry sunny days the insects may fly away almost immediately
the longer an insect rides the water the more likely it is that a trout will feed on the adult
then once insects return to the water to mate and lay eggs typically in large groups trout
wait for the dead and dying flies lying spent in the water to wash down where they can be eaten
if just one insect is hatching the puzzle's not that hard to figure out however if more than one
insect is hatching at the same time you should try to figure out which one the trout prefer
you can try to observe which one they are eating by watching fish rise trying to determine which
insect disappears in the rise but that's often difficult and it's not always easy to tell
which stage the trout are taking are they eating the emerger just under the surface
or are they eating the fully emerged adult or are they eating both sometimes trout eat all of
them at all stages but sometimes they get picky and prefer one type or one stage if you observe
the rise forms of the trout though you may pick up some clues if a rise is very splashy the fish
is probably either taking a merger or eating a large fluttering insect if there are no bubbles in
the rise form the trout is taking an emerger just under the surface if there are bubbles in the rise
form the trout is taking flies off the surface because as they feed on the surface they ingest
air which is then expelled through their gills if the rise is subtle and just produces a ring
carter usually taking small insects on the surface mayfly spinners or spent egg laying caddis
you