The fish up here in North Yorkshire are now starting to take the hatching (and returning) Mayflies - I watched a few small fish confidently taking Mayflies on Tuesday teatime. The last few weeks have been pretty busy for us (thank you), trying to get all of the Mayflies and other orders out to everyone in time for the hatches to start in your local area.

As it had been a hectic day, I took a little time out on the way home from the office, and sat beside my favourite pool on the Yorkshire Derwent, just to decompress and have a little 'time to myself' - it made my day to sit for 15 minutes, listening to the running water and watching numerous fish taking returning Mayflies. I did have my rod in the back of the car, but thought I would leave them to enjoy the banquet on offer and see if they are still holding station at this weekend!

Do You Fancy A Barbless Bonus?

Then read the very end of this email ...

On my local river, once the fish start confidently taking Mayflies, I've found it best to fish from around 7pm well into the dusk - so only a few hours - but recently the sport has been very good on both Sedge / Caddis patterns, along with the usual Mayfly imitations.

As a quick reminder - the majority of Mayflies only live for one day. During this time they:

1. Hatch
2. Mature into an adult
3. Mate; and then
4. Die

It's the ones that have had their fun and are returning to the water to lay their eggs that we are trying to imitate on an evening. They land very softly on the water and pause for a second or so to deposit their eggs - this is when the trout snaffle them up:

* Above image courtesy of Ben Lupton - thanks Ben 

Earlier this week (Tuesday) we received a restock of all our Mayfly patterns. We don't usually re-order Mayflies part way through the season, but with the trend and info that our Mayfly Tracker was showing it looks like the Mayfly season will be longer and more prolific than usual - so we thought we had better stock up again.

You can find all of our Mayfly Individuals & Selections by clicking either of the buttons below:

As we now have full stock of everything, we are focussing this week's email on a few patterns which you may find useful in the coming weeks - especially if you are fishing in the afternoon or early evening. I've picked out the ones below as the current customer favourites - so far as repeat sales go.

Each of the patterns below can be bought individually, in packs of 5 or packs of 10 at reduced prices - the more you buy the cheaper they get!:

Mohican Mayfly

Rumour has it that this fly is the most popular Mayfly imitation of all time!

A detached body mayfly imitation, super buoyant and tied to exacting standards. This fly has very short wings, this helps reduce leader-twist when casting. Make sure you have plenty of these, the trout love them! The most effective Mayfly imitation when spinners are on the water.

A Mayfly Dun imitation in White/Cream & Brown (the natural colours) with a grey poly-yarn sighter post. These Dun imitations are tied on size 12 AHREX FW525 barbless hooks and correspond to the actual size of a Mayfly.

Mayfly Loop-Winged Emerger

A Mayfly emerger imitation in White/Cream & Brown (the natural colours) a little foam tied in at the head and looped wings, to allow the fly to sit correctly on the water. These emergers are tied on size 10 AHREX FW503 barbless hooks and correspond to the actual size of a Mayfly.

Expert skill: Use an 8ft to 9ft rod, along with a floating line and 8ft to 10ft of leader. Use a cut-down 9ft tapered leader (use the last 5ft) and then 4ft of 5x tippet. Fish a large cream-coloured Mayfly Emerger (remember the insects are up to 2.5cm long).

Pro Tip: Remember you are looking for sections of river which are below a slow-running silty section and preferably where the river narrows. This funnel effect will act as a conveyor belt delivering the mayfly to the waiting trout. The better-sized trout will be at the head of the pool, so steadily work your way up. Once the Emergers appear on the water the fish will ignore the nymphs.

Artisan Mayfly Dun

A Mayfly Dun imitation in White/Cream & Brown (the natural colours) with a grey poly-yarn sighter post. These Dun imitations are tied on size 14 AHREX FW525 barbless hooks and correspond to the actual size of a Mayfly.

Pro Tip: If you see spinners dancing above you, pay very close attention to the water for softly rising fish, and look for dying Mayflies caught in small pockets of dead water behind rocks or debris. If you find any, pick them up so you can get a good idea of their size and colour and then select an appropriately sized pattern.

Get them while you can, as we did run out last year!

All of our individual Mayfly patterns are available now (from stock) from only £1.75 each - which includes Free Delivery to anywhere within the UK - in our Eco-Friendly packaging.

Go on, you know you want to!

Fancy A Barbless Bonus ...

Then Read on McDuff:

We've had some more of these stunning car bumper stickers made, from weatherproof vinyl - would you like one?

As I write this we have just taken our 70,000th order, so both Jack & I wanted to say a big "thank you" by including one of our very own "Trout Bumper Stickers" in every order we receive today (they are not available to buy separately).

As a "thank you" for all of your support (and orders) over the years, we will give you one for free, just place an order with us today and we'll pop in one of our car/truck/van/lorry bumper stickers for FREE - until stocks last - we have exactly 85 of them, so there should be enough for today - but you never know!

* I know, the truck needs a good wash!

Have fun out there!