THE SULPHURS ARE COMING BY JOHN BERRY

Now that our spring caddis is on the wane, it is time for our sulphur mayfly hatch to begin. This is our most reliable mayfly hatch and it is eagerly anticipated by area dry fly enthusiasts. This is a size fourteen or sixteen yellow orange insect. The caddis hatch was late arriving this year possibly due to the brutally cold winter and cool spring. I would not be surprised to see the sulphurs later this year. They should already be here. I have not seen them yet nor have any of the other fly fishing guides that I have talked to.

 I fish all phases of the hatch. Before the hatch begins the sulphur nymphs will be more active and the trout will key in on them as they will be abundant. My favorite sulphur mayfly nymphs are copper Johns or pheasant tails in size fourteen or sixteen. I fish them under a strike indicator with a bit of lead eighteen inches above the fly. I often fish two fly rigs. I suspend a pheasant tail below a copper John or vice versa. The trick is to achieve a perfect drag free drift. At the end of the drift allow the fly to rise. This imitates the hatching mayfly and will often trigger a strike.

When you see rises on the surface of the water but no insects, you know that the emergence has begun. It is time to switch soft hackles that will act like an emerging insect. When the mayflies are emerging from the nymphal shuck and breaking through the surface tension of the water, they are very vulnerable and the trout will key in on them. My favorite sulphur emergers are partridge and orange or partridge and yellow soft hackles. The most effective way to fish them is to use a twelve foot leader tippet combination ending in 5X tippet. Stand facing downstream and cast down at a forty five degree angle to the bank. I give the fly a good strip to sink it into the film, where the insects are emerging. I let the fly swing in the current. When a fish hits the fly I feel the take I set the hook. I slowly work downstream.

When I observe the trout taking adult insects from the surface of the water, I switch over to dry flies. I fish them on a leader tippet combination like I do dry flies. I tie on the fly and carefully dress it with fly floatant to water proof it. I cast the fly so that it will gently land eighteen inches above a feeding trout and let it travel downstream in a perfect drag free float. When the trout rises to the surface and takes the fly, I wait a moment for the trout to close its mouth and go down in the current before I set the hook. The tendency is the set the hook too soon and pull the fly from the fish’s mouth. I generally lose the first couple of trout because the adrenalin is pumping, when I see the take on the surface.

 I have often had great success fishing the nymphs or soft hackles during a full blown hatch with lots of rising fish.

 Now is the time to prepare for the hatch. Make sure that you have plenty of flies and fly floatant. I hope to see you out there.

 John Berry is a fly fishing guide in Cotter, Arkansas and has fished our local streams for over thirty years.