I am looking for some insight into how people fish during a mayfly hatch. Or should you not even waste your time. I got caught in one this weekend (Though the resort owner referred to them as Lake Flies) I don’t always have the luxury of waiting these things out and have to fish when I can. Any tips or tactics would be much appreciated.
Sealegs
I “small-up” on my baits some for the hatch… something that has worked well for me in the past.
I use as small of jig as I can and dress it with a Mini-tube skirt. I usually place a tiny pinch of crawler on there too. Now… this is crappie size bait. I do not fish the same, as I normally would for walleyes though… I “swim” this bait more “up”…rather than work the bottom tight with the jig.
Another thing I have done is to dress a dark-green brown or black Mini-tube on a Phelps Floater! … But I rig it with the tube backwards and the floater inside the tube! This looks real “buggy”. This way the “legs” of the tube are forward and fight the water when the lure is moved forward. This “reverse-rigging” of a tube gives much more action to the legs and makes the floater react with a “struggle” and irratic motion. This floater gets the bait up off the bottom where the weeds are not… and this time of year weeds suck to your baits and are a real mess! Thus the advantage of this rig over a lead jig. I use a bullet sinker/worm weight & swivel with a four foot snell. Weeds and crap slides right off the bullet sinker/worm weight. Still it is a very small bait that is very castible.
“Reverse-rigging” of a tube also can be done on a lead head jig… it is real effective when no weeds are present!
Work the rocks… and transitions from mud to rocks where the larve emerge. Eyes are not surface feeders…one reason less eyes are taken from hatch times, is that they are not on the bottom feeding as much…many times they are crusing “up” feeding on rising larve. Try to work them “up” because most times they are suspended and may be just below the surface in evenings and in low light / overcast days.
Hawger
The resort owner was correct on the call for “lake flies”. They are also known as “midges”. These normally hatch around Memorial weekend. With the cooler weather it has slowed things down a bit. The Mayfly , with the large wings and long tails , will not start until mid to late June on a normal year.
Dino
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.