Matching the hatch

[CMichaud]

Hi guys

I am not a fly fisherman but my son has been giving it a go.

I have read that matching the hatch is key to successful fly fishing.

1. Is there a cheat sheet which helps know what hatch is ongoing throughout the season?

2. Is the hatch consistent from year to year? ie give or take a week or two of shifting left or right?

3. Is matching the hatch matching the phase of the insect development or is it more about the specific insect species?

We fish the Edmonton - Athabasca area.

Thanks in advance!

[RavYak]

The bane of my fly fishing abilities. Will be keeping an eye here because I suck at matching the hatch lol.

One thing a guy needs to know is whether your talking streams or lakes, the two are very different.

[Chief16]

Originally Posted by CMichaud

Hi guys

I am not a fly fisherman but my son has been giving it a go.

I have read that matching the hatch is key to successful fly fishing.

1. Is there a cheat sheet which helps know what hatch is ongoing throughout the season?

2. Is the hatch consistent from year to year? ie give or take a week or two of shifting left or right?

3. Is matching the hatch matching the phase of the insect development or is it more about the specific insect species?

We fish the Edmonton - Athabasca area.

Thanks in advance!

1. There are cheat sheets available that are called hatch charts. Simply google something along the lines of Alberta hatch charts there are many available, most from guiding companies. Here's an example: http://bowrivercanada.com/hatch-charts/

2. The hatch is for the most part consistent as shown in the hatch charts but there is variance. Take this year for example, it has been very warm and everything in the river is active, kicking things off early. This would be different that 2 years ago for example where there was still a foot of snow come April 1.

3. Matching the hatch is mostly about the insect itself, but having said that the phase of the particular insect is important as well. For example with a stonefly hatch, there may be many stones crawling into shore to hatch. As they are crawling they become dislodged in the water and it would be good to fish a nymph. However when they start landing to lay their eggs, the fish will be looking up for them. Matching the phase is a very broad term as the nymph phase for example can be anything from a size 22 Baetis to a size 6 stonefly.

Hope this helps! PM me if you have anymore questions or if I said something that was unclear and I will try and help as best I can

[Fenix_84]

Rarely will you match a natural perfectly with an artificial.

Use these guidelines to get close. Most important to least.

1. Match the size
2. Match the shape
3. Match the color

Carrying every possible fly is impossible so its better to only carry the common ones. I carry more attractor patterns (Flies that don't resemble anything specific but have characteristics of many different flies).

Then as Chief16 has said, it also depends where in the water column the fly is which adds even more complexity.

[CMichaud]

Thanks for the helpful info guys. I will take a look at some of the Google sheets and try experimenting.

Regards,

Colin

[MTB_FlyFisher]

Not something I've done, but have read about this method and it looks like it'd work great!
LINK TO VIDEO

The basic idea is to stretch some netting over your fishing net, stick it in the water, disturb the water upstream of the net, and then check the net for what bugs are in the water at the time. An added bonus is that you should be able to gauge roughly where in the water column they are based on where they end up in the net.

No need to know what bugs are what, just grab your fly box and (as Fenix suggests above) match what you've got in your box as close as you can to what's in the net.

I've also heard similar methods using a couple sticks to stretch a net into the water column for collection purposes as well.

[Chief16]

^^^

That is true as well that I forgot to mention. It never hurts to flip rocks and see what is out and active.

[robson3954]

Of note, I bet 90 + % of my fish aren't caught on a fly that's been matched to observed bug activity. Just based on knowledge of what has/should have been around recently (golden stones, green drakes etc).

Of course matching a hatch and killing it is awesome, but who wants to take a guess on how many fish have been caught on a stimulator when there's no stones, caddis or hoppers about?

If he's brand new, stick to the well known fish slayer flies and focus on technique; learning the natural flies observed as he goes along, of course.

[JReed]

In my opinion, presentation matters more than what fly your using. I never try and match the hatch, and I always do fairly well. I have about a 10 fly system that I use for streams. It's all about a drag free drift.

Knowing what types of water holds fish is also a big piece of the puzzle. Once you know which water holds fish, sit there and watch it before you fish it, you'll learn a lot. If you see risers, use a dry fly. If nothing is breaking surface, then try streamers or nymphs

[hacman]

i find fish aren't always as picky with sub-surface flies, although an exception to this would be when still-water fishing chironomids. Then size is often the key factor, not so much colour. Dries on the other hand, your presentation is key most of the time, maybe tippet size, and fly size. As stated already, reading the water is very important. Is They all play into whether you hook up or not. Try to match the bait that's in the water, it definitely increases your chances. Some days they hit anything that moves, then sometimes it doesn't matter what you throw at them.

[Dr.Shortington]

Originally Posted by JReed

In my opinion, presentation matters more than what fly your using. I never try and match the hatch, and I always do fairly well. I have about a 10 fly system that I use for streams. It's all about a drag free drift.

Knowing what types of water holds fish is also a big piece of the puzzle. Once you know which water holds fish, sit there and watch it before you fish it, you'll learn a lot. If you see risers, use a dry fly. If nothing is breaking surface, then try streamers or nymphs

JReed,

I am going to post what I put in another thread. A common theme among nymphing techniques is the "drag free drift" but I can't exacylty determine what that means or how to go about it:

For example, when ever I cast (with the water flowing from my left to right) my fly line ends up pointing at about 10 oclock, while my leader and flies finish at about 9 oclock. What I am trying to say is rather than my rig floating down straight. My flies are always dragging behind my indicator.

This is super hard to explain, I hope I am doing a good enough job, because I think this is severely hurting my presentation.

I typically mend my line within the first few seconds of my drift to try and get my indicator behind my flies (basically so the flies are ahead of the indicator in my drift). Is this what I want?

I understand that you want to be near the bottom, and I can typically find bottom. But I dont think my line is drifting underwater in the proper formation.

Thanks for any help you can offer!

[shakeyleg02]

Originally Posted by Dr.Shortington

JReed,

I am going to post what I put in another thread. A common theme among nymphing techniques is the "drag free drift" but I can't exacylty determine what that means or how to go about it:

For example, when ever I cast (with the water flowing from my left to right) my fly line ends up pointing at about 10 oclock, while my leader and flies finish at about 9 oclock. What I am trying to say is rather than my rig floating down straight. My flies are always dragging behind my indicator.

This is super hard to explain, I hope I am doing a good enough job, because I think this is severely hurting my presentation.

I typically mend my line within the first few seconds of my drift to try and get my indicator behind my flies (basically so the flies are ahead of the indicator in my drift). Is this what I want?

I understand that you want to be near the bottom, and I can typically find bottom. But I dont think my line is drifting underwater in the proper formation.

Thanks for any help you can offer!

Best to keep mending if possible until the end of your drift

[Dr.Shortington]

Originally Posted by shakeyleg02

Best to keep mending if possible until the end of your drift

Does mending actually change the formation of your leader under the water? I thought it was typically done just to keep your fly line straight up to you indicator.

[Chief16]

Originally Posted by Dr.Shortington

Does mending actually change the formation of your leader under the water? I thought it was typically done just to keep your fly line straight up to you indicator.

Your fly line does not need to be straight to your indicator. The easiest way to understand a drag free drift would be using an extreme example. When your at the end of your drift, just hold you line and let it go taught. This drag will cause the flies to come because the line is, well a line, and will straighten out. A drag free drift means there is no resistance in your line and the flies are able to move freely. It is kind of hard to put into words now that I am trying to explain it haha
You could always just put split shot on to help get it down, which is never a bad idea regardless if you get a drag free drift or not.

[Dr.Shortington]

Originally Posted by Chief16

Your fly line does not need to be straight to your indicator. The easiest way to understand a drag free drift would be using an extreme example. When your at the end of your drift, just hold you line and let it go taught. This drag will cause the flies to come because the line is, well a line, and will straighten out. A drag free drift means there is no resistance in your line and the flies are able to move freely. It is kind of hard to put into words now that I am trying to explain it haha
You could always just put split shot on to help get it down, which is never a bad idea regardless if you get a drag free drift or not.

It's funny how hard it is to explain in words haha.

I get the idea of the flies being able to float freely. And I think for the most part mine are. But I am just wondering if the direction of my leader under the water is causing me problems. If I were to guess I would say my line below my indicator is more parallel to the banks of the river, and I am trying to understand if I need it to be more perpendicular. Does that make sense? Haha

[robson3954]

Originally Posted by Dr.Shortington

It's funny how hard it is to explain in words haha.

I get the idea of the flies being able to float freely. And I think for the most part mine are. But I am just wondering if the direction of my leader under the water is causing me problems. If I were to guess I would say my line below my indicator is more parallel to the banks of the river, and I am trying to understand if I need it to be more perpendicular. Does that make sense? Haha

Ideally you want your nymph downstream of your indicator (surface water is faster than subsurface/deep water). Small water will usually require one mend, but bigger runs will require multiple mends. I try not to mend my line if I think I'm passing a fish and the mend will cause the fly to move unrealistically.

[Dr.Shortington]

Originally Posted by robson3954

Ideally you want your nymph downstream of your indicator (surface water is faster than subsurface/deep water). Small water will usually require one mend, but bigger runs will require multiple mends. I try not to mend my line if I think I'm passing a fish and the mend will cause the fly to move unrealistically.

Thanks!

Does mending actually help accomplish this? I was always under the impression it was for the line on the surface only.

[Chief16]

Originally Posted by Dr.Shortington

Thanks!

Does mending actually help accomplish this? I was always under the impression it was for the line on the surface only.

Well you do it for the line on the surface to get the effect on the nymphs

[rycoma]

Matching the hatch is the last thing you should be concerned about in my opinion. Placement of your fly and getting a good drag free drift is way more important. Size and shape followed by color and exact match. It doesn't hurt to flip rocks or have a look around it gives you a starting point. To many times nyphing have I had strikes on the indicator. Why cause it was in the correct place to make it easy prey for the trout. Like Jim McLennan said in one of his books a trout is like me on christmas day after the 15 mince tart. I wouldnt get off the couch to get another but if one so happend to drift over to the couch. Kind of puts it into perspective.

[Dr.Shortington]

Originally Posted by Chief16

Well you do it for the line on the surface to get the effect on the nymphs

I guess my question is how does mending the line on the top of the water effect your nymph presentation? Haha, I know my questions may sound redundant but I just can't quite wrap my head around it.

[Chief16]

Originally Posted by Dr.Shortington

I guess my question is how does mending the line on the top of the water effect your nymph presentation? Haha, I know my questions may sound redundant but I just can't quite wrap my head around it.

Because it is one line and it is all connected. Just because part of the line is above the water and part is below it doesn't mean they are mutually exclusive. If your line is dragging on top, it will effect your nymphs subsurface by swinging them up. If there's tension in the line, that tension will be transferred throughout. Go to a river and hold your line tight at the end of a drift and watch your flies swing up. This is an extreme case but the principal holds true no matter how much drag there is.

[Dr.Shortington]

Originally Posted by Chief16

Because it is one line and it is all connected. Just because part of the line is above the water and part is below it doesn't mean they are mutually exclusive. If your line is dragging on top, it will effect your nymphs subsurface by swinging them up. If there's tension in the line, that tension will be transferred throughout. Go to a river and hold your line tight at the end of a drift and watch your flies swing up. This is an extreme case but the principal holds true no matter how much drag there is.

Gotchya....I'm pretty sure I accomplishing a drag free drift...or at least attempting to. I know that my line is tagging bottom cause I get hooked up on the bottom quite a bit....but still not much for fish. Gonna try some new areas I'm thinking!

[SNAPFisher]

My approach has been not to look at hatch charts, not there is anything at all wrong with that. Call it a great short cut

Mine has been observing while fishing. If I'm fishing a lake and sub-surface, I try to take a throat sample. I don't if whatever I choose is working but if I catch one in say 2 hours, out comes the sampler. Once I learn it, no need to sample again unless it changes the next year.

For surface fishing, it is even easier. Just observe. Throat sample again maybe once a blue moon to confirm.

Once you are comfortable on location and time of year, your largely solid! As long as the conditions remain relatively the same. I'm confident that I can go to "said" lakes at a certain time of year, use what I learned and observer the hatch is "on", and have a day as amazing as the day I discovered it. And, if you like to tie, year 2 or 3 I'm using solely flies I've tied and match the hatch better than any bought fly could. That is the shear magic of fly fishing that makes it...just so damn cool! And when you hit that hatch again...and again....it really puts a smile on your face.

Point in case, I marked an amazing hatch at a cutty lake that would blow anyone's mind. Took a buddy just this last year, 9 years later... took until noonish but the afternoon was shear magic and we both landed over 60-70 cutties each. What a return day!