The Fly
June 2, 2009
“Another year, another Mayfly hatch.” Easy or no, it’s not an occasion to miss!
Action plan: Start by warming up with a few easy fish and then target something more challenging; you know, like the fish rising under the tree on the far bank, or even the impossible and monster fish rising in the back eddy beyond the midstream torrent.
Well, that’s how my fishing buddy Simon and I set about it again this year – we had a ball! Settling for more southern streams and in particular the Wandle, where only nesh trout are to be found, friend and colleague, Theo, couldn’t make it again – better luck next year mate!
An evening produced countless fish, with several large ones amongst them. Only a few stocked fish showed their [relatively] ugly faces.
Successful flies included the Grey Wulff and the French Partridge Mayfly. Most successful of all however, like in every year we’ve fished the Mayfly hatch, was the Mayfly Emerger pattern, illustrated above. A version with a fine cream SLF thorax caught the very biggest trout, while the hares ear thorax tying gave very good account of itself.