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I am presently launching a new mayfly print fishing hoodie featuring art by James Dunlap. James does naturalist illustrations of the multiple life stages of many trout staples. Ryan Dunmeyer provides the entomological expertise to James with exhaustive effort in collecting and photographing every development stage. We took a collection of the Dun & Dun mayfly images for our newest offering. You'll find nymph, dun and spinner stages of Blue-Winged Olives, Green Drakes, Sulfurs, Slate Drakes, and March Browns.
I've actually learned a great deal from James Dunlap and Ryan Dunmeyer, namely that the mayfly dun will "molt" into the spinner by shedding another layer. This was news to me but is shown in detail in this spread by troutnut.com. This info should come in handy as I decipher what I am seeing out on the river.
For example, when fishing a green drake hatch, I will often notice that there are two colors of drakes flying around. It will seem to me that there are green drakes and grey drakes of similar size at the same time. I believe what I am actually seeing is two different stages (duns and spinners) of the same insect. This distinction could really affect my choice of flies.
I spend much of my fly-tying efforts trying to mimic mayflies as I know our local fish cannot resist these insects. I find the Harrop's Last Chance Cripple to be my go-to fly for any mayfly hatch. I switch up the color and size to better match the hatch, but this silhouette has caught more fish than I can count. And for some reason, the hits on a cripple are different. Our local Westslope Cutthroat attack this fly more than they do the full-
formed
versions. This pattern sits low on the water and can be fished as an emerger and/or cripple throughout the hatch.
Sometimes the spinner is preferred late in the hatch. I find the more realistic at this stage, the better. Here's an example of the fly that caught the largest fish during an evening hatch outside of Cody, Wyoming.
I found the fish couldn't resist it when I gave it a small twitch, with a nice 20+" brown actually turning around and smashing it once he had already cruised by. Here's the result:
Our new SunPro Hoodie featuring this great artwork from James Dunlap will challenge you to identify each mayfly type and stage. These are currently available for pre-ordering on our website with delivery expected in early December.
Get Yours Today: Click Here
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