Fly Fishing

jeremy · Location: Portland, Maine

Everyone (I think) love to dry fly fish .. sometimes the hatches are epic, sometimes they barely come off and some people seem to love one hatch vs. another hatch. So, what are your favorite hatches to fish .. or what hatch have you heard of that you would love to fish .. and what hatches seem to do nothing but irritate you. I'll start ..

1. I love the HEX HATCH here in Maine. Tough to beat huge giant bugs that look like small birds coming off the water by the thousands or 10's of thousands .. and having native maine brook trout putting their guard down and slurping these big bugs off the surface with reckless abondonment. Lot's of fun. Ironically, this is also a hatch that can be the most frustrating. Just this past season - Boz, austin and I ventured deep into some remote Maine ponds with canoe in tow etc... Everything was set up perfect. Low wind, warm and shucks on the water from what we heard was an epic hatch the evening before -- of course, on this evening - the hatch was pretty much non-exisitant.

2. Never fished the "Salmon Fly Hatch" that seems to get so much press out west --- would like to someday.

3. Bluewinged Olive hatches are great .. but not when the BWO's are size 22 and the trout/salmon are ultra selective --- more irritating than anything else - cuz I can barely see my fly -- and the hook ups are few and far between.

4. I really do love Hendrikson hatches in the northeast in the spring -- and I'm always game for a good caddis hatch.

joey · Location: Colorado

I like the caddis hatch especially when the trout are super aggressive. It is fun to skate them across the surface and watch fish crush them.

The green drake hatch is amazing. Especially f you can find one that is not happening right at dark. I have seen a couple on a few different rivers that happen in the middle of the day and watching these giants flutter on the water surface is wild. It also brings every fish in the river to the top. Cool stuff.

A big midge hatch in the winter is fun to fish. Especially if the midges are big enough to see. #18 (although 18 is starting to get tough for me to see). these hatches can blanket the surface and bring alot of big fish up. i have only caught it right a few times but it was killer.

I also like the egg hatch in the fall and spring... Razz

JeremyK · Location: Montana

Living in NW Montana, and on the on of the legendary rivers known for the Salmon Fly hatch, I have to say that it is not all that. It is pretty cool throwing some huge size 4 and 6 foam bugs and not really caring about drift or presentation; but when the salmon flies come out, the big fish gorge themselves on them and then after about three days it is done. After that you get sporadic feeding, but mostly by smaller fish. I have guided some epic days during the Salmon Fly hatch, the best one was taking a beginning fly fisherwoman that boated about 30 fish and missed about another 40. Saying all this, you need to hit the salmon fly hatch the day it happens to actually experience what everyone talks about.

Personally I think that the Goldenstone is a better hatch that lasts a lot longer around here and comes after the Salmon fly hatch. Early Season Skwallas can be a blast when the rivers aren't blown out; a lot less people and the first big stonefly that the fish see around here before the crowds come. BWO's are a great early season and late season hatch to get into when not working.

Growing up in the Midwest I loved the HEX hatch. It was the hatch that brought me to the water even though I didn't catch many fish during it. Normally fished it at sundown or dark. It was tough to fish it at dark; still brought me to the water late at night blind casting to big sipping trout. The Hendrickson and BWO hatch were also pretty reliable hatches to fish in an area of the US that doesn't have a ton of hatches.