Hatches

Most of the insects we try to imitate with our flies spend 360 or more days under water, so nymph fishing is the practical method 95% of the time. However, if you do hit a "hatch" on one of the streams in Bluff Country, it's a special time. Since not all streams have the same insects, and insects don't hatch according to a Franklin Planner calendar, I believe in on-stream observation, checking spider webs, turning a few rocks, and carrying Parachute Adams in many sizes.

If you want to check out a very practical chart, go to Bob Blumreich's web site. Even though Bob guides in Southwestern Wisconsin, all of the insects he lists are also found in Minnesota, and the hatch times are similar. (Look him up if you need a guide for that part of Wisconsin.)

If you want a rather complex and thorough chart, www.wisflyfishing.com has the link to an awful lot of aquatic insect information on the home page. Again, Minnesota"s mayflies, caddis and stoneflies are similar - but they don't care for cheese and Leinie's.

Simplified Hatches - the Short Form

Midges hatch all year, but they are tiny and a pain to tie on and to see on the water.

Mayfly hatches start with the Blue Winged Olives - for practical purposes, from mid-March until frost - but the sizes diminish as the season progresses, from 16 down to 22.

The Dark Hendrickson is the first hatch of consequence - early April through early June - usually in the afternoon. A nice size 14!

Sulfurs and/or Light Hendricksons - Mid May into June - late evenings can be interesting as the sun is setting and you are trying to tie on another fly pattern. 16s and 18s.

Light Cahills and March Browns - sporadic from mid-May until August.

Tricos - from mid-July until frost. And it's really the morning spinner fall that we fish, rather than the "hatch", in most cases.

Plauditus and Caenis - this is fishing with "belly button lint" in mid to late summer. Serious anglers can tie on and fish sizes 22 through 26 - I hear there is even a size 32 hook! I switch to an ant pattern.

Caddis are around all summer with the little Black Caddis first (April-May) followed by various tan and spotted versions throughout the summer, and a long-horned, cinnamon tan version in September. Check the spider webs! Also, you will usually have better luck with a sparkle pupa or an emerger, rather than a dry fly, during a hatch.

Stoneflies tend to crawl to shore rather than hatch on the water's surface, so keep an eye open for egg-laying adults.

Ants and Beetles are available to trout from April through September, and hoppers and crickets from July until frost.

There are exceptions and variations - I ran into a large cream-colored mayfly at dusk one summer and had nothing close in my fly box. I have also seen trout take Crane Flies off the surface, but have never seen one take Water Boatmen (but they do).

Scuds, although they are not insects, are in the stream year-round, and are worth fishing. The same is true for crayfish and streamer patterns - even snails! So observe, make a seining net (or carry a small aquarium net), and build a few fly boxes geared to the streams you fish. The diversity of stream life will amaze you.

ps: Sometimes I have encountered bait anglers on the shore with a few trout on the grass or on a stringer. After a little conversation, I have offered to clean their trout for them so I can take a look at the stomach contents. I always carry a jelly jar lid (white on the inside) in one of my vest pockets. With a little water in it one can figure out what the recently deceased trout were feeding on before their final meal. Sometimes the conversation even leads to a discussion of trout stream populations and over-fishing, or even the opposite - their suggestions of places where the insect hatches make bait fishing impossible!