Mayfly Time - A Deadly Trout Weapon!

The detached body Mayfly!

My favourite time for fishing with the dry fly has now commenced! In a brief window, depending on the riverbed, hatches of localised Mayfly start. On my local river they have been hatching in bursts, but haven't quite amounted to the swarms that start from, in my experience, the middle of May to early June. I am certainly looking forward to the coming weeks and hoping to have more to write about in that period.

Over the past week, I have stocked up on a few patterns a lot of which have notably given me some fabulous results, especially in the Duffer's fortnight itself. These patterns being: Mohican Mayflies, French Partridge, the Mayfly silhoutte-type patterns and not to forget Mayfly emergers. On a session with my friend Harry, I noticed in his fly box there were a few very covincing looking patterns tied by a local angler, Andrew Mussellwhite. Recently he has started to sell a few of his patterns online through his business, Mussellwhite's Flies. After seeing some of his successful mayfly action with his very realistic patterns, such as the Detached Body Mayfly, I knew I had to order some pronto!

Once I had arrived at the river, I was really hopeful that there would be some trout willing to look up. It was carrying some extra water as well which was reassuring as the river looked in a far better state that it has been in recent weeks. I worked my way up the river and came to a nice shady bay which looked perfect for a waiting trout. With the detached body mayfly sitting beautifully on the water, I knew it was only a matter of time until a trout was going to nail it. Once I got the perfect cast and started to retrieve the bow of line, a sharp, but discrete snatch followed. I tightened into a good fish which hung low to begin with, oblivious of the fact it was hooked. The moment it realised, all hell broke lose, the 3 weight Streamflex absolutely buckled as pure power and energy kicked in from the culprit. All I could do was point the rod in the fish's direction and hoped to slow its vicious runs. Thanfully the hook held proud, even when this fish successfully charged off downstream making the odds of landing this fish harder. On a few more final bursts of energy, shooting back upstream, I managed to finally net this beautiful brown trout. The markings were stunning, very much like a Leopard, and the fins were perfect with distinct white piping. It was a stunning wild fish, which I was absolutely over the moon about!

Wild brownie of the season so far!

After making my way up further, I had another lovely take. Yet again, the light outfit was really tested, meaning another very exciting battle indeed! Another fish of the same size graced the net and it was another pretty fish! Despite this great start to the day, the day took a different turn following on from this. The wind made casting and presentation a bit of a nightmare, and there seemed to be far less rising fish present. I did however catch a few smaller fish on a few early season favourite patterns, such as the Klink Hammer and CDC & Elk. All in all though, it was a very enjoyable session, with two absolutely beautiful brown trout testing my light gear.

Another cracking brownie on the light gear - proof in the pudding that this pattern is deadly!

I really do look forward to getting back out and enjoying a few more plentiful hatches of Mayfly until this prime dry fly period is out.

Tight Lines,

Tom