The 2025 Mayfly Radar - Tracking The UK Mayfly Hatch
UK Mayfly Hatches
"In the heart of spring, when the world blossoms with the whispers of new life, the rivers of the UK dance with a delicate enchantment known as the Mayfly hatch. These magical few weeks are fondly dubbed 'duffers fortnight' a name that hints at the grace bestowed upon even the most inexperienced anglers." - A. Fellow-Duffer, 2024
*** This email is quite long, please read to the end as we need your help! ***
Fly fishing has a very tight community where we all want to help each other, as it's 'duffers fortnight' coming up we thought it was the ideal time to draw on the community intelligence to launch something new.
It was during this mythical fortnight, back in 2022, that I received an email from a good customer across the pond in the USA. The email just contained a link - with the words "Watch this!" - generally this type of email gets filed in the bin (they are usually some sort of scam/hacking attempt), this one was a little different as its subject was "Mayflies Everywhere", so I copied the link into a secure browser and tentatively clicked the link - this was the result:
To save you a click - It was a news report from a TV channel in Cleveland Ohio, showing biblical swarms of Mayflies - even picking them up on the weather radar - If you want to watch the news report, just click on the image above.
This planted the seed of an idea in my mind - I then promptly forgot all about it until this time last year when I was walking the dog (in a howling gale) on the Scarborough cliffs - the seed suddenly germinated and I had a bit of a EUREKA moment.
This worked great last year - so we're doing it again ...
The idea, which like a mayfly, took two years to form, was ... what if we could track Mayfly hatches across the UK in (near) real-time, so all anglers knew when to expect the hatches?
The Barbless Flies budget doesn't quite stretch to using our own radar equipment, so I thought - let's do it the analogue way!
So, here's the idea:
We will draw upon the community we have built over the last 10 years - yes, that's you - and ask you to supply us with the information, essentially, as soon as you see Mayfly hatching on your local water, get in touch to let me know where and I will then plot it on a map for all to see.
I've setup a dedicated page on our website to host all the info - there's no need to bookmark the page as it will be liberally linked to throughout our website - but if you do want to bookmark it for future reference it's https://www.barbless-flies.co.
Here's the current map (with no hatches plotted):
And, here's what we hope the map will look like in the next week - it should make it very easy to track the progress of Mayfly hatches throughout the UK:
If you wish to contribute - and we hope you will - as soon as you see a Mayfly hatch on your local water, please get in touch, by either sending me an email (richard@barbless-flies.co.uk)
You can also report a Mayfly Hatch through the dedicated UK Mayfly Hatch Tracker page on our website:
This will hopefully help all anglers plan for one of the most anticipated hatches of the season. I hope you like this initiative and, as always, I would welcome any feedback you may have.
Happy Mayfly Spotting!
If you are in the market for some really successful Mayfly patterns, can I introduce you to:
Our Mayfly Taster Selection
I always really look forward to this time of year, as it marks an important transition from early season sport (nymphs & spiders etc) to more top-of-the-water, dry fly action (hopefully!). With that in mind, we are introducing even more Mayfly imitations this year, so stay tuned to these emails over the coming weeks for quite a few new individual flies.
We are starting this year's Mayfly season with our tried and tested Mayfly Taster Selection - one each of all the essential lifecycle stages of the Mayfly in one handy selection. This 'taster' selection allows you to find out which flies are working best for you, then you can order them individually.
As soon as the trout switch on to Mayflies, these should be your 'go to' patterns.
We are supplying the whole Mayfly lifecycle in a selection of 6 flies (6 patterns - 1 of each), see (and click on) images and links below for more details: We have already stocked up on Mayflies and these are available now, only £14 for the Mayfly Taster Selection.
Mayfly Nymph
A Mayfly nymph imitation in White/Cream & Brown (the natural colours) and weighted with a bead to help this large fly sink. These nymphs are tied on AHREX FW531 barbless hooks and correspond to the actual size of a Mayfly nymph.
Mayfly Emerger
A Mayfly emerger imitation in White/Cream & Brown (the natural colours) with a little foam tied in at the head to allow the fly to sit correctly on the water. These emergers are tied on Ahrex FW531 barbless hooks and correspond to the actual size of a Mayfly.
Mayfly Loop-Wing Emerger
A Mayfly emerger imitation in White/Cream & Brown (the natural colours) and looped wings, to allow the fly to sit correctly on the water. These emergers are tied on AHREX FW503 barbless hooks and correspond to the actual size of a Mayfly.
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 AHREX FW525 barbless hooks and correspond to the actual size of a Mayfly.he hatching flies.
Mohican Mayfly
A detached body mayfly imitation, super buoyant and tied to exacting standards. This fly has very short wings, which 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.
Spent Mayfly
A Spent Mayfly imitation in White/Cream & Brown (the natural colours) tied with outstretched poly-yarn to imitate the dying mayfly - there are the go-to flies when fishing on an evening. These Spent Mayfly imitations are tied on AHREX FW525 barbless hooks and correspond to the actual size of a Mayfly.
Get them while you can, as we did run out last year!
Barry really liked his Mayflies:
Have fun out there and remember to report any Mayfly sightings via our dedicated page!
