The Environment and Fly Hatches

What if I told you much of the stuff you read in books, magazines, websites and from so called self-proclamied experts on fly fishing entomology is wrong.  Furthermore, these so called "truths" that they preach show a complete lack of knowledge and understanding on how nature works.  They think nature is static. They tell you exactly the dates of when these flies will hatch.  They will tell you on some streams that the hatches aren't there when they actually are there, and on other streams that they are there when they actually aren't.  I know because I've watched this little game for years. It all depends upon the monetary input into some of these sites and who is controlling them.

I knew Ernie Schwiebert.  I also knew Charlie Fox and Vince Marinaro and fished with them.  What is written today on many websites and in many books is to put it bluntly--a lie. Let me give you an example of this.  The hatches on the limestone spring creeks of Pennsylvania which  I should know a little bit about  since I did most of the research and analysis of these streams are not what they say they are. Here's a lie that's been going on for years: The Limestone Spring Creeks have great fly hatches and large rising trout.  The truth is that the Legendary Charlie Fox quit fishing the Letort about 15 to 17 years before his death because the trout didn't rise like they did when he and Marinaro wrote their books. In fact, Charlie would fish for Muskies using wooden topwater plugs he had crafted himself because he truly enjoyed seeing fishing hit surface lures (photo shows Charlie Fox and Ernie Schwiebert at Charlie Fox's Banquet held by the Letort Regulars. It was just a little snapshot I had)!

Another way to tell if these people know anything is to notice whether they differentiate Freestone streams and Limestone Spring streams on insect activity, hatches, and patterns.  Well what did they tell you?  Here's an example of the state of the hatches on these Pennsylvania Spring Creeks that I have researched over the last 35 years:

• Letort-Hatches on the decline in most areas; some areas steady
• Falling Spring-Hatches on the decline in almost all sections. Once famous Trico hatches almost non existent or very sparse from the upper areas. Other hatches like the Sulfur about 30% of what it once was.
• Green Spring-Hatches on the decline in all areas
• Yellow Breeches-Most hatches on the decline with the exception of some Hendrickson's which have increased on a few sections.
• Big Spring-Hatches increasing. Stream coming back although you'd never know it from the posts, forums, websites, guides, and instructors you read on the web. There is a reason for this they can't catch the trout. These are now wild trout.  Sulfurs increased dramatically on many sections the last few years. If you want to see all the data on Big Spring including videos, reports, studies etc. just click here.Well there's some information on these streams in a nutshell but don't expect to see it elsewhere. Why? The information that you will receive is often determined to sell you guiding etc. and many fly anglers are guillable.  Especially new ones because they wouldn't really know what a fly hatch should look like. I could go on and on but I think you get the picture. Want the entire story on Big Spring including data, videos, research studies and analsysis:  Just hit the Big Spring

However, the nonsense gets even better how many of the "experts" have told you about any of the following:

• The total decline in aquatic insect population world wide including the famed English Chalk Streams
• That the aquatic insects are qetting smaller due to a variety of pertubations put into streams
• The change in the emergence periods of insects due to global warming conditions.  
• The fact that many hatches overlap due to the lack of distinct seasonal changes that we once had in this country.

Well that's just a few of the things we'll be discussing on flyhatches.com to help you understand and get more enjoyment from fly fishing. Come back to this website often or sign up for info because we will be including everything from hatch charts to video.  We are flyhatches.com and you can be assured that the info you get here is accurate and any purchase from us isn't due to hype!