Just as our rivers and streams had settled down to a very fishable level, the forecast called for more days of rain at the end of last week. As of Thursday, May 22 when this was written (prior to the Memorial Day weekend) the rivers were rising again, however not as dramatically as the past week; hopefully not enough to put off the mayfly hatches and good fishing we are used to experiencing this time of year! 

We’ve always maintained that if you could answer “when is the best time to go fishing” it would be the end of May/beginning of June. 

And to condense it further, the last week in May/first week in June is prime time. A whole host of flies are hatching now - for those who may be interested in pairing the mayfly hatches with flowers that are blooming, we’ve been seeing trillium (Wake Robin) in the woods, along with garlic mustard, that invasive (but edible) plant with its tiny white blossoms on top of its tall stalks (pull them out to prevent them from spreading, but do try them with their sharp mustardy flavor in salads or cooked like spinach.) 

We’ve also seen the Shadbush, Service Berry or Juneberry - small trees with edible red berries similar to red blueberries that appear along with the Shad Fly (caddis) hatch; these all coincide with the arrival of the March Brown - a sporadic but important hatch of noticeably large mayflies (size #10) that, despite its name, do not hatch in March but rather toward the end of May. These mayflies are identified not only by their size but by their mottled brown wings and brown markings on their legs. They will emerge during the late morning, and continue on periodically throughout the day. The March Browns tend not to be as heavy a hatch as the Hendricksons or Shad Flies (which fill the air above the water and even sidewalks and roadways) but their larger size makes them enticing to the trout - and to trout fishers! 

Lilacs are in full bloom, as are the pink and white honeysuckle, wild azaleas and soon-to-come Dame’s Rocket, similar to Phlox although with four pink petals per flower rather than the Phlox’s five. These fragrant blooms herald the appearance of the Gray Fox, which is a smaller and paler version of the March Brown, and is now considered the same species (Stenonema vicarium) and is a hatch you can imitate with a size #12 or #14 dry fly. Crabapple trees, dogwood and Forget-Me-Nots are also blooming -we recently passed an area filled with tiny bright blue flowers that really brightened up the landscape.

 Their colorful blossoms appear at much the same time as the Sulphur hatch - Ephemerella dorothea. These mayflies are indicative of warming weather to come (!) as mayfly hatches start out in early spring as dark brown and dun, and as we progress toward summer, become lighter in color. Sulphurs have a pale yellow body color and are known for their hatch during late May and well into June, and are generally at their peak around Memorial Day. 

Sulphurs are prominent in the Upper Delaware River watershed, and even after their peak are a consistent hatch and will be around pretty much throughout the summer. When fishing at dusk or dark, Sulphur imitations are a good choice.

Judy Van Put is a long-time member of the NYS Outdoor Writers Association, and is the recipient of the New York State Council of Trout Unlimited’s Professional Communications Award.