Morning,
As we now have full stock of all Mayflies, I am focusing today's email on a few patterns which are new to us, and you will find useful in the coming weeks - especially if you are fishing in the afternoon or early evening.
Up here in North Yorkshire, we're not quite there yet.
At the time of writing this, our local Mayfly are still in the river bed, doing whatever mayfly nymphs do when they're biding their time - given they've spent two years getting ready for this moment, they're in no rush!
The signs are there if you know where to look. Water temperatures are climbing. The swallows are back. And experience tells me that when it happens, it tends to happen quickly.
The hatch could be days away, or it could be a couple of weeks yet (up here we don't normally see any major hatches until the end of May).
But one thing's certain: this is not the sort of event you want to be scrambling around for flies during. The angler with the right patterns already waiting in his box is the angler who fishes with confidence. Everyone else is checking Royal Mail tracking.
We've added three new mayfly patterns to our range this year - all new and all genuinely worth your attention.
Here's a quick look at each:
Baz's Micro Mayfly
Baz's Mayfly has been something of a cult pattern in UK mayfly fishing circles for years, and for good reason. This micro version keeps everything that works about the original: the CDC wing that provides natural buoyancy and mimics the opaque, sail-like wings of the dun as it dries on the surface; the strongly marked body with its segmented abdomen that gives the fish a proper set of trigger points to home in on.
It's a fly that imitates the mayfly in the act of hatching, still vulnerable, still wet, wings just beginning to fan out - exactly the stage at which trout feed with the most confidence.
The beauty of the CDC construction is that it allows you to work with your floatant rather than against it. A light touch of CdC oil, or a careful dunk into powder, and you can dial in exactly how high or how low in the film you want it to ride. Fish it flush when they're sipping quietly; drier when you need visibility in a riffle. If there's one pattern on this list that earns its place on rivers (and stillwaters) during the hatch, this is it.
These have just arrived with us, tied on size 14 hooks, and are available now for only £2.50 each - or a pack of 5 for only £10 - all including FREE delivery to anywhere in the UK.
Mohican Mayfly
Oliver Edwards was one of those tyers who makes you feel slightly inadequate just looking at his flies - and I believe the Mohican Mayfly is his masterpiece. It's an extended body dun imitation, constructed on a needle, with a foam body segmented to replicate the abdomen of Ephemera danica in a way that most patterns don't come close to.
The distinctive upright hair wing - the "mohican" that gives it its name - combined with mixed hackles creates a silhouette that sits just right in the surface film, making an impression on the water that is genuinely difficult for a trout to ignore.
That realism, though, comes with a small note of caution. This is a large, convincing fly, and trout that have been around a while can be wary of big duns suddenly appearing from nowhere.
Fish it with patience - give the fish some time, cast it well above the lie, with a drag-free drift, and wait for that slow, deliberate take. When it comes, don't be in a hurry to lift. This is not a fly for the impatient. It's a fly for the angler who watches, waits, and gets it right.
These have just arrived with us, tied on size 12 AHREX FW525 hooks, and are available now for only £3.00 each - or a pack of 5 for only £12.75 or pack of 10 for £25.00 - all including FREE delivery to anywhere in the UK.
The Wulff Mayfly
There's a reason the Wulff family of flies has been in constant production since Lee Wulff developed the series back in the 1930s - they work, and they work in conditions that defeat everything else.
The Wulff Mayfly is a big, bushy, upright-winged dry fly built around hair rather than the delicate materials of more imitative patterns. That construction means it rides high through the kind of water - fast runs, broken riffles, streamy glides on a breezy afternoon - that would have a more technical pattern awash within minutes. It's the fly you reach for when conditions are awkward, and you need something you can actually see.
Don't let the somewhat non-imitative construction fool you into thinking trout will be equally sceptical. The Wulff presents a bold silhouette in the surface, and in faster, more oxygenated water - think spate rivers running well in May - trout aren't studying the thing with a magnifying glass. They see big, they see floating, they see approximately right, and they eat it.
These have just arrived with us, tied on size 10 and 12 hooks, and are available now for only £2.00 each - or a pack of 5 for only £8.00 - all including FREE delivery to anywhere in the UK.
Get them while you can, as we run out of Mayflies really quickly - and we will not have any more until next year!
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.
As a quick reminder - the majority of Mayflies only live for one day. During this time they:
- Hatch
- Mature into an adult
- Mate; and then
- 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.
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.
Go on, you know you want to!
Have fun out there!
