The trickle of mayflies over the last week have now turned into full blown hatches during the weekend, most mayfly starting in mid to late afternoon. Our beat of the River Avon on the Heale Estate fished extremely well over the weekend and there are still a few days available before the main weed cut which starts on the 15th June. The Avon mayfly hatches typically appear just a little later than those rivers in the Test and Itchen catchments and can continue well into the summer and autumn.
River Avon Heale Estate:- 1 rod – £190.00 2 rods – £320.00
Mayflies fall into the class of insects that have an incomplete metamorphosis or a 3 stage life cycle from egg to nymph then adult. Once emerged the flies are unable to eat or drink and have a limited time in which to reproduce before body reserves are exhausted so the weather at this time can be critical for future generations.
Even with the recent big mayfly hatches there has been little spinner activity reported but with the drier weather this will change and we will start to see the large plumes of males dancing on the leeward side of trees and bushes waiting for their chance to mate. Males tend to die over the meadows with the females returning to the water to start the process of egg laying. Flying low over the water the flies will be seen to dip to the surface and it is then that the eggs are released. Once all the eggs have been released the spent females die giving fish an easy evening meal.
We have seen other upwinged flies including Medium Olives and I have received reports of some good hatches of Iron Blues during the stormy weather in the middle of last week. The Brown trout and especially the wild ones appear to prefer these small inky blue flies even if there are also the larger mayflies emerging at the same time.
Although there were reasonable reports of Hawthorn over the last couple of weeks some areas did not see any at all following a similar pattern of previous years.
Do not miss the hatches, for more information on chalkstream fishing and availability or to book a day on the River Avon please contact Alex Jardine or call our office on +44(0)1980 847389