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Clingers are built broad and flat and like faster moving water. March Browns and Light Cahills fall into this category, their hatches are a little more sporadic, they can still offer excellent dry fly action. Their emergence is relatively quick do to
nature of water they ware found.
Swimmers like Isonychias like pools, and slower runs and riffles. They are excellent swimmers and strikes for them ten dot be vicious. They can hatch heavy or sporadic.
Crawlers also prefer softer runs and riffles. These species such as Hendrickson’s and Sulphur’s have hardest time emerging from their shucks. Therefore great fishing can be found drifting nymphs or emerger patterns just below surface where fat fish love to slurp them up. Their hatches can be explosive and really send fish into a frenzy.
The burrowers like sandy or silt bottoms. They need silt to burrow and survive. Their hatches tend to be legendary and very popular. These mayflies like Drakes and Hexes, are large and infamous. However their hatches are very short-lived, and many people mark their calendars around them.
After nymph stage comes emerger stage, which we covered somewhat above. The emerger stage is relatively new are of concentration for fly angler. But it has exploded in popularity, as this stage is most vulnerable for mayfly. Not yet an adult and no longer a nymph, they are very clumsy in water and are free floating as they rise to surface. Whole groups of patterns have been designed just for this window of a mayflies life.
For novice fly fisher I hope this has given you a foundation for appreciation you will sure grow to have of this class of insects. And for ordained, now would be a good time to have your blood pressure checked. I will discuss adult mayfly in a future article.
Cameron Larsen is a retired guide and commericial fly tier. He now operates The Big Y Fly Co. At www.bigyflyco.com.
