At this time of year, as the temperatures rise and spring begins to push towards summer, the aquatic insects that inhabit our trout streams actively continue their cycle of life. In greater variety than at any other time of year they begin transitioning from crawling and clinging insects that live below the waters surface to fully winged adults. Fly anglers refer to this transition of stage, or emergence, as a "Hatch".
Hatches occur on the streams with regularity, with each insect having its owns set of requirements to morph from one stage to the next. Mother Nature controls these cycles that repeat year after year, similar to the blooming of plants. It is these insects and their vulnerability during their transition from water to air that for the most part feed our trout. These insects are fish food. The trout go wild as they see what amounts to a buffets line of T-bone steaks and Quarter Pounders with cheese, Chocolate Blizzards and Apple Pies floating down the river, all free for the gorging. They must eat now, for soon enough, free meals will be hard to come by.
Fly anglers tend to react with wild elation to these hatches because all becomes visual. The fish are all showing their position, their noses poke out of the watery flow and slurp the insects with the same fervor as the anglers cast. The flies are cleverly crafted with hook, fur and feather to imitate the natural and the greatest predator prevails.
Fly anglers also react with deep despair to these hatches because all becomes visual.....and they can't catch a fish. Their fly is not a good match. Their drift is not right. They are rejected time and time again by a fish with a brain the size of a pea. The fly anglers will often cry.
The next time you hear a fly angler talk about "The Hatch" you will undertand more about this complex relationship between fish, fly and angler. You can bet there will be a story...... but few will tell about the time they cried.
