Mayfly Hatch

[can it be luck?]

The mayfly hatch does seem to slow, if not stop the bite completely. The mayflys provide an easy and plentiful meal for all fish. Those walleye you caught were probably feeding on them as well. On many lakes the flys have large areas to hatch in, makeing it hard to focus in on where the "bite" is takeing place. Shallower, mud bottom that warms quickest are where they like to frequent. I've been on a couple of lakes that consisted of lots of rock, sand, and gravel. During the hatch the fishing was terrible in all the "known" points, bars, etc. However there were a few little bays that had a shallow mud bottom and in the afternoon and evening the flys would hatch and the fishing was fantastic! As the calm of evening sets in the flys landing on the water were getting slurped up by everything, walleye, northern, bass, crappie, you name it. I can imagine how many wigglers never had the chance to turn into a fly! It's not that the fish aren't feeding, it's that there's too much feeding going on! If a guy could pinpoint the exact areas that the hatch is going on I think he'd have a heck of a day. I use a split shot and a 1-2" piece of crawler on plain hook or tiny jig head to "match the hatch" so to speak.

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[1Yogi]

The general wisdom is that when mayflies are about to or have hatched that walleyes can't be caught for love or money. Last season I was at a resort on Mille Lacs during the hatch, and caught a 21 inche eye in about 3 feet of water with a bare hook and a leech on a slip bobber. I was in the harbor of the resort near sunset. My presumption is that the walleye was in to feed on smaller critters that feed on the hatching flies. My question is this Do the bigger eyes move in that shallow during the hatch and is this the overlooked pattern during that period in the particular lake? I know that the Hatch varies from year to year and varies with how far north the lake is. But is that behavior predictable during the hatch. Am I on Something or Onto Something?

[This message has been edited by 1Yogi (edited 03-28-2004).]

[Jason Boser]

my experience has been that when the flies are hatching in the mud on the main basin them walleye are hard to catch. when that happens I go in the weeds and shallow water those fish arent as effected by the flies and you can still muster up a fish or two
Jason

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[Guido]

Anyone use weight forward spinners during the hatch?

My bait shop guy sold me one and I didn't know how to use the thing.

[big drift]

a little trick from a montana trout guy that works well is once you locate the the main hatch area go to a fly either suspended on a slip float or use a fly rod, upon moving here as soon as i saw the hatch statred tying up works like a charm but work shoreward out and have fun

big drift

[can it be luck?]

Guido, I posted them again in the "10# walleye where and how" thread but they probably won't last long. About the weight forwars spinners. I do use them often on Erie. During the hatch I will use a 1"-2" piece of crawler on them. I haven't experimented much with them on smaller inland lakes, I usually opt for crawler harnesses baited the same way. Erie Dearies are my choice but I use Pygmys also.
On inland lakes the hatch can be a tough time to fish. I've only found a few lakes where I know the hatch takes place on the lake. Shagawa lake in Ely is one of them.
Sorry for the lack of help, but I can say this, regardless of the hatch the weight forward spinners tipped with a crawler is a great bait.

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[This message has been edited by can it be luck? (edited 04-01-2004).]