Fishing Forum

I am relatively new to the area and hoping this is the place to start. I am originally from the northeast (Maine) and did a fair amount of fly fishing there. I do OK here but nothing to write home about. I believe what I am lacking is the entomology part - bugs are different and time frames for hatches are different here.

I was on the upper Weber tonite and I was engulfed by an unknown hatch. Literally thousands of small (1/2 - 3/4 ") white moth like insects were flying just above the water. They appeared to have upright wings - so a mayfly of some kind? Never could catch one so don't know much else to classify it. They did not appear to be touching the water at any time so I don't believe they were laying eggs - just swarming about 6 inches to 2 feet above the water.

The strange part was that I never saw a fish rise or even a swirl. If the fish were taking emergers it was well before they reached the surface.

Can anyone recommend a book, video, person, etc that specializes in the local emtomology so I can begin figure out the local bugs and their hatch times??

Did they look like this...



OR



OR



You could go to the library and find a good book or try

http://www.utahonthefly.com/entomology/n...topage.htm#
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My guess is they looked like the 2nd picture...but I wasn't there. Just a guess.......
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As I mentioned they appeared to be upright wings - so most likely a mayfly of some kind. My East coast books make identification based on the in water (nymphal) stages and not the adult stage.
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From my past experience fishing on the upper Weber, and having experienced similar hatches, I am going to go out on a limb and say that they were probably Caddis. They look more moth-like to me than any type of Mayfly, and I have seen them in swarms.

This time of year, Caddis come out in the evenings like CRAZY! Just my opinion...
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This might help a little.
http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gfo...tt_id=4018
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Caddis Hatches are more prevalent this time of year but there are mayfly hatches. If it had an up right wing it sounds like a mayfly hatch. I usually nymph that section but Ive never been lucky enough to get into a mayfly hatch on that section. Id try a dun pattern like a sparkle dun, or even a klinkhammer.. also try bwo and trico patterns. If all else fails fish deep with a hares ear []
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