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by Danie Erasmus

Mayflies make up a major portion of the small nymphs trout feed on and they become prey in a number of situations. Trout feed opportunistically on struggling nymphs that are swept downstream by fast water. Mayfly nymphs also exhibit a behaviour called dispersal drifts, when they let go of the river bottom en masse and drift downstream to find new habitat. These migrations peak in early morning and early evening, increasing their exposure to trout during those times. Nymphs are also susceptible when emerging, as many species swim to the surface to emerge.  

 Mayfly nymphs occupy a wide variety of habitats and water-types including riffles, runs, back-eddies and pools. In streams mayfly nymphs have adapted to either cling or crawl among the rocks, or to swim and dart from rock to rock in the fast current.  

 Clinger and crawler nymphs tend to occupy faster water in riffles and runs. These nymphs are flat, stout and wide so that they can cling to and live among rocks without easily being swept away. Effective fly patterns imitating these nymphs should have the same wide and stout profile, and should be heavily weighted. This shape is convenient for fly tiers as it allows for the inclusion of over-sized beads and lead wire to help these flies sink faster.  

 Swimming mayfly nymphs, such as those belonging to the Baetidae family, inhabit both fast and slow water. Nymph imitations of these should be slender, which means there isn’t room for a lot of weight to be added. However, you can cheat a bit and use oversized bead-heads with slim bodies, or the very popular Perdigon Nymph. To fish these flies effectively, focus on slower runs. 

Even fishing a lake while the ice is receding may require a variety of fly lines, so make sure your kit bag has the essential lines from the very first trip of the season.  Floating, hover, intermediate and faster sinking lines in type 3, 5 and 7 will cover any fishing tactic required in your trout lakes. Trout are not normally very leader shy in the early spring as the intense insect hatches have not begun. Carry spools of good quality 3X, 4X and 5X monofilament or fluorocarbon tippet. 

Early mornings and the last couple of hours before dark are often very good times to fish lakes during the ice-off period. It takes fish time to get accustomed to the brighter daytime light after spending months in the dark, and thus are often more active in lower light conditions. Plan one of your fishing days to stay for the evening bite. It may become a regular routine during the early fishing season.  Again, watch for the signs of moving fish which increase as light levels wane. Use patterns that have some flash or make noise when retrieved through the water. Palmer-hackled patterns like Woolly Buggers, bead-head leeches, bead-head scuds, and rubber-legged boatman and backswimmers are all good choices. Fan-cast each area that you fish. There may be a small group of fish concentrated over a tiny piece of real estate that aren’t willing to wander too far in search of food. If there is no action or interest after 15 to 20 minutes, move on to another part of the shoal or another part of the lake.  

Pay attention to the shallowest areas of the shoals or littoral zones. Trout come into water just a few feet deep to chase down scuds, water boatman, juvenile damselfly nymphs and leeches. Prime shallow-water feeding areas will have some remnants of green plant growth on the bottom and might be near stands of cattails or longstem bulrush. This makes ideal habitat for the prime aquatic invertebrate food sources. Watch for fish moving in openings within stands of bulrush and cattails. In many of the most productive lakes the trout are found in shallow water for another reason: the way the oxygen is most concentrated. The lake water is still stratified at ice-off and for a number of days after. Oxygen levels in the deep water may not be sufficient to support fish life due to the considerable anaerobic decomposition of plant and other organic matter during the iced-over period. The shallow areas of the lake are mixed by wind action and oxygen levels increase. This fishing situation is known as pre-spring turnover. Consider the direction of the prevailing wind and try fishing the downwind shoal areas. A warm wind increases the surface temperatures in shallow water and can dislodge scuds and other invertebrates and concentrate them in those wind-swept areas. 

These days, fly anglers have a wealth of flies at their disposal, but with such a focus on innovation, it’s easy to forget about traditional methods. The humble Soft Hackle is a prime example of this angling amnesia.

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