The 'Morning' Mayfly - Nymphs & Emergers
As I've mentioned in previous communications, I have to drive along the side of my local river to get to Barbless Flies HQ - along the way I get a very good view of the river - and can check the insects which are splattered across my windscreen to see what's hatching!
As we've been pretty busy in the office over the last few weeks, I've been trying to get in for around 7am - so I can help the fly fairies get all of your orders out on time - as you can imagine, this is the busiest part of the year for us.
Yesterday, however, I made a slight detour ...
On my way home on Tuesday I saw Mayfly all over the place, so I thought I would take the chance to arrive at the river early and have a fish for an hour - before I got stuck into all of your orders!
I was glad I did ...
As we are so close to the coast, the mornings are usually quite overcast. This is great for fishing - but not so good if you want some time on the beach.
I took the opportunity to fish a very silty stretch of water which I don't normally pay much attention to - the plan was to fish Mayfly nymph and emerger imitations.
I tied on one of our Artisan Mayfly Nymphs (see illustration above) and had a fish on the very first cast - as the water is pretty slow in this part of the river I had to manipulate the nymph a little to impart a little life into it, but a resident wild fish scooped it up without hesitation.
As well as focussing on the 'morning' Mayfly variants in today's missive, we're also extending a bit of a treat for you ..
We're Continuing ...
Our Mayfly Tombola
You seem to have liked our 'Mayfly Tombola' idea, so we've decided to continue it until midnight tomorrow (Friday 16th May), you'll have to scroll to the end of this email to remind yourself of the details!
But, back to the 'morning' Mayflies ...
Morning mayfly fishing is all about subtlety and timing. Before the main hatch kicks in, trout are already on the lookout for the emerging nymphs beginning their journey toward the surface. These early hours are a golden opportunity for anglers who understand what’s going on below the water. Fish a nymph well in the right place, and you’ll often be into trout before a single dun has taken flight. Then, as the hatch builds, switching to an emerger pattern can unlock a feeding frenzy just under the surface - if you get it right.
Use a two-fly setup early on – Pair a weighted mayfly nymph with a softly hackled dropper above it. You’ll cover multiple depths and imitate both the rising nymph and the drifting emerger in one cast.
Fish structure, not open water – In the early hours, focus your casts around weed beds, margins, and silt patches where nymphs emerge. Trout will be sitting close, watching.
Grease the tippet, not the fly – When fishing emerger patterns, apply floatant to the tippet up to a few inches before the fly. This keeps the fly riding naturally in the surface film, not unnaturally high.
Choose patterns with a trailing shuck – For emergers, a CDC, Z-lon or Antron trailing shuck (like our Mayfly emerger below) gives the illusion of a freshly hatched mayfly stuck in the moment of emergence - exactly what trout are targeting.
Match behaviour, not just colour – Don’t just think about matching the hatch visually. Early mayflies are sluggish and vulnerable - fish your patterns with a gentle twitch or slow hand-twist retrieve to mimic natural movement.
As we are discussing the Mayfly (and why shouldn't we, this is the exact time of year to do it), we have a pretty special offer on the very best 'morning' Mayfly nymphs and emergers we can supply - The Mayfly Nymph, Loop-Winged Emerger & Regular Mayfly Emerger - they are works of art, you won't know wether to hang them on the wall or fish with them!
When fishing the Mayfly hatch during the morning, there's no better fly to use than our Artisan Mayfly Nymph imitation - they are the exact size of the mayfly nymph and perfectly proportioned
Here they are:
Artisan Mayfly Nymph
Fishing during the mayfly hatch is one of the highlights of the trout fishing calendar, but success often comes down to timing. In the early hours, before the hatch really kicks off, trout aren’t looking up yet - they’re feeding just beneath the surface on the ascending nymphs making their way toward emergence. This is the perfect window to fish a mayfly nymph imitation slowly and confidently through the margins and drop-offs. Look for signs of trout positioning themselves in the water column, often mid-depth, anticipating the rise rather than chasing adult flies.
Ok, you've sold me on them, "What's the price?" I hear you ask - we are making all of these flies available to you either individually (from only £2.75), or in packs of 5 or 10 from only £12 - which includes Free Delivery to anywhere in the UK - in our Eco-Friendly packaging.
Mayfly Loop-Wing Emerger
As the clock ticks toward mid-morning—around 11am—you’ll start to notice a shift. Mayfly duns begin to trickle off the surface, and the trout respond accordingly. This is the golden hour for emerger patterns. At this stage, the fish become laser-focused on the struggling insects caught in that vulnerable surface tension zone. Swap out your nymphs for a well-suspended emerger or a fly with a split profile—part in, part out of the water. Keep an eye out for gentle sipping rises; those subtle dimples on the surface are a dead giveaway that trout are now keyed in on emergers, not the fully hatched adults (yet).
The Mayfly Emerger
Slightly darker in colour, some mayflies die as soon as they hatch. These are an easy target for trout, sometimes they actively target these in preference to the hatching flies. In which case these are the go-to flies. A classic mayfly imitation, super buoyant with a foam body and tied to exacting standards. This pattern imitates those mayflies which die hatching.
All of our individual Mayfly patterns are available either individually (from only £2.75), in packs of 5 or 10 (from only £12.00) - which includes Free Delivery to anywhere in the UK - in our Eco-Friendly packaging.
Get them while you can, as we did run out last year!
Go on, you know you want to!
The Artisan Mayfly Selection
The Artisan Mayfly Selection is a selection of the flies to imitate the FULL lifecycle of the Mayfly (nymph, emerger, stillborn, dun, spinner & spent). I fished with these flies in May/June of the last few seasons to test them out, and was amazed at the results.
We are supplying two of each pattern, in total there are 12 flies supplied in our eco-friendly packaging. All of these flies are hand-tied using AHREX barbless hooks and the highest quality materials.
We've put together a FULL selection of ALL our Artisan Mayflies (two each of the following):
- Mayfly Nymph - tied on an Ahrex FW531 - Size 10
- Mayfly Emerger - tied on an Ahrex FW531 - Size 10
- Mayfly Loop-Wing Emerger - tied on an Ahrex FW503 - Size 10
- Mohican Mayfly - tied on an Ahrex FW525 - Size 12
- Mayfly Dun - tied on an Ahrex FW525 - size 14
- Spent Mayfly - tied on an Ahrex FW525 - Size 14
The (Extended) Mayfly Tombola
We've been thinking of a way to let all our loyal community - yes, that's you - get hold of one - for FREE, and then the penny dropped when I was at our local fete! Let's do it like a tombola, but instead of picking a raffle ticket that ends in either a '5' or a '0' - and winning a jar of marmalade which you will pass on to next year's raffle - let's do something a little more digital.
So here's the deal:
- Just place an order with us before midnight tomorrow (14th May), it doesn't matter how much for - we're good like that, we would appreciate it if the order was over £20 but it's not a requirement!
- If your order number ends in an even number, then we will add one of our "Fishing The Mayfly" books to your order for free (usually £9.99).
- If you order one of our Mayfly books as a part of your order, we will refund you the cost of the book if your order number ends in an even number.
- That's it.
We've only around 20 of our books remaining, so they will only last us a day or so. This virtual tombola will run from the time you receive this email until midnight tomorrow (Friday 16th May).
Have fun out there!
