Thread: Mayfly Hatch

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  1. #1
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    Oct 2013
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    Mayfly Hatch

    What baits do you guys use for the mayfly hatch? Do you try to imitate the mayfly or the bream eating the mayfly?

    Thanks!

  2. Member
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    Nov 2011
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    Cedar Falls, Iowa
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    #2
    Best fishing I had during a mayfly hatch was throwing a heddon torpedo. I know guys toss around poppers too. A brown or black marabou jig works also

  3. Member DrewFlu33's Avatar
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    Mar 2016
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    Twin Cities, MN
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    #3
    This is going to sound a little nuts, but bear with me: Find a fly that looks like the mayflies (size is most important, color not so much)--like one you'd throw on a fly rod--tie a bobber on your line a couple feet above the fly for weight so you can cast it, and go to town.

    The rest of the story is that I took a hiatus from bass fishing for several years when I realized that being gone for tournaments every weekend wasn't compatible with the other things I was interested in doing on the weekends while in college. Fly fishing took its place. My dad was into tournament bass fishing all along, and during that same timeframe, a huge mayfly hatch started occurring on a river he fished regularly. When I say huge, I mean huge...you could've shoveled the sidewalks in the morning. Whether it was water quality improvements, coincidence, or something else that caused this hatch to suddenly be a big deal, I can't say, but I digress.

    Anyhow, he fished a tournament during the thick of it where there were good bass everywhere there were overhanging branches, sitting just under the surface, waiting for an easy meal. They wouldn't touch anything a bass angler usually has in his box, but if you shook the tree branch to knock the molting mayflies out, the bass would slurp them up in short order. I think he managed a couple on a small Pop-R. He told me about it, and we proceeded to go out and manage to catch them around those overhanging branches with a fly rod and appropriately sized dry fly. Realizing a fly rod isn't really practical in a tourney, especially for my dad who doesn't fly fish, we tried tying the fly on a spinning rod. The problem is there's no weight to the fly, so casting was impossible. The solution we finally came up with was to use little bobbers to add weight tied a couple feet above the fly, and suddenly we were in business. Clear colored "Thingamabobbers" were what we used...they're quite a bit less intrusive than what most think of when thinking of a bobber, and being clear it helps with confidence vs. chucking a big orange foam ball at them. This river is notoriously tough, and we ended up with something like a 15 lb limit out fun fishing during the week. That's essentially unheard of on this river.

    You might look like an idiot for a minute, though that only lasts until you start whaling on them. Like I said, it sounds nuts. It's totally worth a shot though!

    If you're looking for fly patterns, given that it's a mayfly big enough to catch the bass's attention and assuming it's on a big body of water, my guess is that the species of mayfly you're dealing with is hexagenia, often called "hex" for short.
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  4. Member basscat21's Avatar
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    May 2008
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    Falmouth, Ma
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    #4
    Marabou jig

  5. Member
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    Jul 2004
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    South Elgin, IL
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    #5
    I've had the best luck with a frog so most likely imitating bream. A number of times on the upper Mississippi I've done well skipping the frog under overhanging branches that the mayflies were on, one team tournament we whacked them when one of us would throw the frog right into the bush knocking mayflies off and then the other would skip the frog under right after. Panfish went for the mayflies and bass went for the panfish.