The Mayfly AdultWritten by Cameron Larsen
In our last article titled Mayfly Nymph. We covered basics of nymph stage of this crucial insect in world of freshwater game fish and fly fisherman. We now will cover adult phases of mayfly. Although most of its life is indeed spent as a nymph dwelling at river or lake bottom. It is adult insect that has truly captured fancy of fly fisherman. It’s adults that were given colorful names that we listed in Mayfly Nymph article. And it is adult that fly fishing elitists consider only form worthy of imitation.After spending a year or so as a nymph, mayfly emerges to surface. On way, it shucks its outer skin, and pumps fluids into it’s wings. This emerging stage has caught on in popularity in fly fishing world, as mayfly emerger is extremely vulnerable. Many mayfly species are clumsy swimmers at best, and combine that with shucking their outer nymph skin, they become a flailing treat for waiting trout. Upon emerging they need to dry their wings. There they sit on top of water, with their sailboat wings upright. The mayfly cannot fold their wings down, which also lend to their visibility for waiting trout. At this stage they are called ‘duns’. Usually duller in color, they can spend anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes on top of water. This is stage where fly fisherman typically use dry flies to imitate mayfly. Although each individual insect is only in this stage for a short time, mayflies can emerge by thousands with hatches lasting for several hours at a time. It is joy of every fly angler to witness and participate in one of these hatches.
| | Choosing a Fly Reel Written by Cameron Larsen
Selecting a fly reel for trout fishing has become, like many things in fly fishing, a somewhat unnecessarily complicated adventure. The problem is, reels have gotten so well-made, so functional, that you almost have to know what you are looking for. In old days, reels held line, your spare hand was drag, and that was it. Tippets almost always broke when fighting an unusually large trout, and rare one you did haul in was a great cause for celebration. Well things are different today. Drag systems have changed, there are retrieve ratios (always buy 1:1 for trout), and everyone carries around an extra spool or two to change lines when conditions change. As is nature of all information posted on Big Y Fly Co. web site, we are here to try to simplify whole thing. Fly Reels Function First, lets start off with function of reel. Well first thing a fly reel was ever designed to do, was to hold line. Keep it in a nice, convenient, compact location, where we can strip it out as we need. Then we wanted reel to ’reel’ in line preferably with a fish on, but also without. Guess what, almost every fly reel out there will do these things to satisfaction. The ultra cheap models, have lots of imperfections that cause line to get caught up in housing of reel, and with a fish on a light tippet you will end up being frustrated in no time. The ultra cheap models will also in no time cease to work altogether, forcing you to pony up more dough and thereby negating only advantage ultra cheap model had to begin with. In short, stay away from ultra cheap models. Fly Reel Drag After original function of fly reel has been satisfied, next thing to look at is drag. The drag is fly reel’s system for applying pressure to fly line, so when you get that big fish, fish has to work to pull line out. A good drag will do just that, provide even tension whole time. There are two types of drag out there, ‘spring and pawl’, and ‘disc drag.’ Fly reel companies all over have been bragging about disc drag, it works like disc braking system in a car. The disc drag system is THE system of choice for large game fish, from large trout on up. But I frankly prefer spring and pawl system for 90% of my trout fishing, because it is smoother. Less likely to snap off a 6x tippet when hooked trout makes a sudden change of direction. So in my humble opinion, if fishing a 5 wt or lighter, don’t forget about good old spring and pawl. Although it is getting harder to find in a quality reel, it is still out there.
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