wild guide
MAYFLIES
AND WALLEYE
by Stu Thompson
MAYFLIES–THE
CONVENTIONAL
FISHERMAN’S
CURSE AND
THE FLY
FISHERMAN’S
HOLY GRAIL
13 Wild Guide
. Summer 2017
H
ow
many
times
have
conventional fishermen been out
fishing in June and witnessed
the water surface polluted with
mayfly husks, yet been unable to catch
anything at all that day. Quite a few I
would suspect. Then you sit and wonder
why the fish are not feeding or why you
couldn’t entice them to bite. The key here
is the mayfly itself with the focus on the
understanding of this aquatic insect and
why it plays such an important role in the
Walleye’s diet. Let’s start off with a little
known fact about mayflies; when mayflies
hatch there are not thousands or hundreds
of thousands nor millions, but metric tons!
Another interesting fact is that the only
reason that mayflies exist is to supply fish
with food, these critters are nothing but
pure protein and an easy meal for fish. I
have examined the stomach contents of
Walleye and have found them crammed
not only with the nymphal stage of this
insect but also with the adult stages.
Let’s take a closer look at the life cycle of
the mayfly. As we all know, most animals
start off as an egg and the mayfly is no
different. It’s when the mayfly turns into
a nymph that fishermen have to take
notice. The nymph lives for approximately
one year under the water and after going
through some growth will become an
important food item for Walleye but this
is still not the most important stage of
this insect. Once the mayfly is ready to
hatch, it is called an emerger. At this time
it will swim towards the surface of the
water. Once there it has to break through
the surface tension of the water making it
extremely vulnerable to the Walleye.
Another stage that is significant is the
adult. The mayfly is the only insect in the
world to have two distinct adult stages.
The first is the immature adult called a
Dun and the second stage, after the insect
flies to streamside vegetation and splits its
skin is the sexually matured adult called a
spinner. The angler has to pay attention as
to what stage the fish are feeding on and
what imitation to use.
Now down to techniques. How can
fishermen present artificial flies with
conventional tackle? Let’s start off at the
bottom and work our way up. I have fly
fished for Walleye with mayfly nymphs