As Luke Bryan would say, it's bout that time of year again. All across the country, mayflies, caddis, midges, and terrestrials are gettin down and making babies. For trout and fly fisherman, May / June and the emergence of a smorgasbord of hatches is like heaven on Earth. So, do yourself a favor and wet a line. Shit's about to go down.
Now that I got my little hype paragraph out of the way, I figured with one of my favorite hatches really starting to pop off I'd blast out a little info on Sulphurs.
Sulphurs (Ephemerella Invaria)
Had to throw a little latin in for Bryce.. try to not knock over a lamp or something when you read this tonight brother.
So.. Sulphurs.. The prettiest mayflies ever. In case you couldn't tell, I'm pretty fascinated by Sulphurs. There's something about their little burgundy red eyes, the light whispy tails glittering off the surface, and those gorgeous clear wings with a hint of yellow. Damn it's a beautiful insect. Trout, on the other hand, think they're a delicious little vanilla cheesecake nugget of goodness. And I'd tend to agree even if it breaks my heart to see em get chomped. Trout go loco for a good sulphur emergence and hatch. Hell, they go crazy for them anytime they're moving. Which is why Bryce and I carry all 3 stages of this mayfly in our box at all times.
Sulphurs generally behave the same as most mayfly species, being most closely related to Hendricksons, same genus after all. They live for roughly 1-2 years in the nymphal stage, favoring gravel and highly oxygenated water (fish em in riffles, hint hint). When the timings right and they wanna bang, the nymph will wiggle itself loose from the gravel and float for a relatively long period of time below the surface, working itself free from its nymphal shuck. Once they're free, a Sulphur Dun usually takes off from the water very quick. A fish sucking down a Sulphur Dun is probably an exception, not the rule. This is the reason we love Sulphur emergers. It's one of the few hatches where imitating the emerger stage is more important than any other stage of this flies life cycle due to the sheer amount of time they're vulnerable drifting under the water. The male dun then pairs off with a good lookin female dun, mates, molts into what we call a spinner, and flies down to the water to die. Bingo, bango, bongo that's it, orgasm of a lifetime.
It's a pretty simple life cycle that can be imitated very easily with a few different flies. I'll show you some below:
Nymph:
Don't beat yourself up over fly selection for the nymphal stage. Any type of generic pheasant tail or hares ear in size 16-20 will do well for you. I usually start with a Galloups HE or PT and then transition to my more attractive style patterns: Frenchie, Iron Lotus, and Rainbow Warriors respectively. In eastern PA the Iron Lotus has been producing very well.
Emerger:
While I have fished all kinds of sulphur emergers in the past, I have two that have been my best producers. Personal preference it is, so take it with a grain of salt, but I'm all about dumbing down my fly selection and these work for me. A simple PT or Frenchie soft hackle is a solid starting point (I have a posted photo of my Frenchie soft hackle in our first blog post, check it out. My PT version just subtracts the hot spot dubbing for more subdued peacock). I'll also fish a Sulphur FOD, which is the fly of destiny tied with yellow thread and hot yellow UV dubbing. Awesome little fly.
Dry:
Again, simple simple simple. This is just a puff daddy tied with yellow thread and Dun CDC. Solid producer and super easy to tie.
Hope these help you out this May and June. Stand by for a future blog post on Caddis, including a TON of my favorite patterns. Tight Lines