Mayfly trout fly pattens

Mayfly nymph

Purple Jesse Nymph

Pheasant Tail nymph

Pheasant Tail nymph

Mayfly

Mayfly

Blue Dun Wet

Iron Blue Dun

Twilight Beauty

Kakahi Queen

Blue Dun

Art of Fly Fishing Calendar,
1998-2007
© Michael Scheele

Trout feed on the mayfly at all stages of its life cycle:

• In its nymph or larval stage (see as an example Pheasant Tail)
• As it attempts to emerge (e.g. an Invicta)
• In its adult form which is often referred to as a dun. (See Twilight Beauty and Blue Dun as examples).
• The female adult when it returns to the water to lay its eggs. After an elaborate courting ritual the female falls back on the water to lay her eggs and then remains there and becomes known as a spinner (see Golden Spinner as an example). It will often flutter weakly in the surface film giving rise to the term, "spinner". At this stage the mayfly is easy pickings for the trout as it drifts downstream in the current weakly trying to rise. Rises to spinners can very from good splashy takes to gentle sips as trout suck in these delicate morsels.

Pheasant Tail
Blue Dun
Twilight Beauty
Kakahi Queen

March Brown

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