| Fly Pattern |
April |
May |
June |
July |
Aug. |
Sep. |
Size |
Habitat |
Time |
Alternative Patterns & comments |
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| Early Black Stonefly |
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16/18 | Riffle |
All day | Spring stone |
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| Early Brown Stonefly |
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14 | Moderate |
Morning |
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| Black Quill (1) |
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12/14 | Riffle |
Midday | Blue Upright, Quill Gordon, Black Gnat |
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| Tiny Black Caddis |
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20 | Riffle |
All day |
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| Hendrickson |
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12/14 | Riffle |
Afternoon | Red Quill, Lady Beaverkill |
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| Dark Hendrickson |
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12/14 | Riffle |
Afternoon | Red Quill |
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| Little Marryatt |
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14/18 | Riffle |
Afternoon | Sulphur Dun, Pale Watery Dun, Light Hendrickson |
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| Black Caddis |
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16/18 | All |
Midday |
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| Dragonfly nymph (2) |
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10 (3x) | All |
Midday | Blades dragonfly nymph, Superfly brown dragon nymph |
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| Damselfly nymph (2) |
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10 (3x) | All |
Midday | Dave's Damsel, Marabou Damsel |
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| Blue Winged Olive (3) |
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14/16 | Moderate |
Midday |
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| Elk Hair Caddis (4) |
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14/18 | All |
All day | Cinnamon Caddis, Little Olive Caddis (Little sister sedge) |
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| Green Sedge |
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14/18 | Riffle |
Afternoon | Green rock worm |
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| March Brown |
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10/12 | Riffle |
Afternoon |
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| Grey Fox |
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12/14 | Riffle |
Afternoon | Light Cahill |
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| Light Cahill (5) |
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12/14 | All |
Evening | Grey Fox |
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| Little Green Stonefly |
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16 | All |
Afternoon |
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| Yellow Sally Stonefly |
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14 | All |
Afternoon |
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| Litobrancha sp (8) |
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10 (3x) | Slow |
Evening | Great green drake |
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| Dobsonfly (6) |
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8 (3x) | All |
Evening | Reg's Hellgrammite Nymph |
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| Golden Stone |
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8/10 | All |
Evening |
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| Cranefly (7) |
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8-12 | Slow |
Midday | Spiders and variants |
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| Slate Winged Olive |
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14/16 | Moderate |
Afternoon |
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| Tiny blue winged olive |
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22/24 | Moderate |
Afternoon |
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| Mahogany Dun |
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16 | Riffle |
Afternoon | Cahill Quill, Light Blue Quill, Housatonic Quill |
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| Trico |
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22/26 | Slow |
Morning | Black or white body |
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| Terrestrials |
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8/18 | All |
All day | Ants and hoppers |
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| Hexagenia sp. (8) |
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10 (3x) | Lake |
Evening | Hexagenia paradun, Michigan mayfly |
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| Fly Pattern |
April |
May |
June |
July |
Aug. |
Sep. |
Size |
Habitat |
Time |
Alternative Patterns & comments |
Click here for a printable version of this chart.
Notes :
1. This is the early Nova Scotia mayfly. At the end of this hatch watch out for the blackflies.
My favourite is a chocolate-brown bodied parachute with dark dun legs and tail.
Other patterns, in appropriate colours, used for mayflies are the Usual, Haystack and Comparadun.
2. Dragonfly and Damselfly adults occasionally fall to the water, the nymphs would be the main source of food. The nymphs can be fished all year.
3. Blue Winged Olives are encountered at various times from their first major hatch until closing day.
4. Tom Lee (see Tom's Bakers Dozen ) recommends that deer hair should be used in place of elk hair for the wing. Body colours are olive, cinnamon or tan. The CDC caddis works well for both the adult and emerger stage. A green bodied Klinkhamer is a great imitation of a caddis pupa/emerger. Fish dry on the drift and wet on the retrieve.
5. Light Cahills are encountered at various times from their first major hatch until closing day.
6. Dobsonflys or Hellgrammites. Peak time for fishing the larva is the month of April.
7. Cranefly larva can be fished all year. They are burrowers and can be found after run-offs. Suitable patterns would be the Giant cranefly larva or Dave's cranefly larva.
8. Most pattern books specify the Green Drake as the Ephemera Guttulata. However, the only "Green Drake" mayfly found in the paper entitled Influence of water ph on certain invertebrates during lake surveys in Nova Scotia - Peterson, R.H., belongs to the Hexagenia species. The well-known species is the Hexagenia Limbata, the lesser-known being the Litobrancha Recurvata (formerly Hexagenia Recurvata). The two tails are what distinguishes these flies from other species of drakes. Both flies are known locally as green drakes, brown drakes or grey drakes. Body colours vary from a tannish-brown to a pale yellow. An appropriate hackle would be grizzly dyed yellow or yellow mixed with brown.
9. I have produced a web page which cross references common fly names to taxonomic names. It was created by compiling twelve hatch charts, available on the web, plus many other sources.
My thanks to Bob Lundy for allowing me the use of his hatch chart design. And to quote Bob ... "Hatches are not defined by the Hatch Charts, but rather the converse. Hatches are driven by all sorts of forces in nature: timing, water and air temperatures, water level and flow, light levels, probably barometric pressure. Quite frankly, the bugs couldn't give a cat's whisker about what it says on our Hatch Charts."
A special thanks to all my fishing buddies, especially Bob and Reg, for their input. And a very special thanks to Nelson Watson and Andrew Hebda at the NS Museum of Natural History and to Anita Hamilton and the ladies in the library at DFO.
As Dave Hughes once wrote, .."trout don't speak Latin".. but I had no choice when researching these flies (I'm still baffled by it all).
References ...
Logbooks of myself and other NS fly fishers.
Eastern Woods and Waters
Species distribution of Mayfly nymphs in three stream systems in NS - Peterson, R.H.
Distribution of Stonefly and Caddisfly species in three stream systems in NS - Peterson, R.H.
Distribution of Mayfly, Stonefly and Caddisfly of three maritime catchments - Peterson, R.H.
Distribution of Mayfly nymphs in some streams of eastern Canada - Peterson, R.H. and Johnston, D.J.
Influence of water ph on certain invertebrates during lake survey in NS - Peterson, R.H.
Distribution of Canadian stoneflies - Ricker, W.E.
The Mayflies of Illinois - Burks, B.O. 1953 Matching the hatch - Schwiebert, E.G. 1955
Hatches II - Al Caucci and Bob Nastasi
Hatch Guide for New England Streams - Thomas Ames, Jr.
Wilfid Laurier University Purdue Dept of Entomolgy Illinois Natural History Survey NS Freshwater Entomology
Mayfly Identification Page
I would appreciate knowing if you have used this chart
and whether or not you have any additions or corrections.
Last update Jan 11 2006
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