Spinner fall

[pcray1231]

They can be tough to see in the evening sky too. Drakes are usually obvious. Tricos are usually obvious because they're in massive clouds and pretty close to the water. But most other species are pretty tough, gotta get the right angle with the sun and the trees. It's almost like you gotta get a more experienced person to point em out. Once. After that your head will be peeled on the treetops every evening and you know what to look for.

As far as timing it, IF it occurs in daylight, it can be pretty easy. When you first notice the balls of spinners up there, they're pretty high and going in random directions. Over time, the whole cloud slowly descends towards the stream. When fall is imminent, the cloud is at head level and they all start flying in the same direction, upstream.

It's just unfortunate that often, it gets too dark to track it like that. You see em high up. The sun sets and you lose the backlight. You still have enough light to fish, but you lost sight of the bugs, and are worried about the aforementioned cosmic event. Then right as you lose fishing light, the fish go nuts, they were there all along.

 

[Chaz]

The easiest way to see spinners in the air while you are fishing is to look up toward the sky periodically toward a light source, sometimes they are a couple hundred feet up, but if there are a lot of them you'll see the clouds. Disclaimer, don't look into the sun.

Also pay attention to what is happening over the riffles, often the spinners are flying within 5 to 6 feet of the water over the riffles when they start laying eggs. If you see these bug over riffles change you fly to the appropriate spinner pattern. Trout recognize the spinners on the water immediately and because the spinners don't escape the surface, the trout chow down until they are gone.

You will most definitely see this behavior during the trico season as the tricos start falling on the water. When you first arrive at dawn you likely see spinners over the sunny areas of the stream, then as the sun rises they spread out and during the mating flight you see them getting lower over the water until at last there are large concentrations over the riffles laying eggs and falling spent on the riffles.

Trout bunch up at the lower end of riffles during the spinnerfall because the largest concentrations of spinners are available to the trout at the ends of riffles. Look for the gulping rise and bubbles on the water where you see the rise and you'll know when the spinners are on the water.

One last thing, not all spinners are equal, they don't all fly upstream in the mating flight just before dropping on the water, for sure GD's do. But some fly up into trees, March Browns do this and they may stay there for a day doing whatever mayflies do before they come out of the trees enmass again to lay eggs and die. Know the differences of the sexes too, because not all spinners of the same species are the same color.

 

[pcray1231]

I love the tricos because you can hit the same spinner fall more than once in the same morning.

They pretty much fall when the sun gets full on the water. But that doesn't happen evenly. So focus on the sunny areas first, fish the spinner fall, then hussle off to a more shaded area, where they won't have fallen yet.

Even better when there's morning fog over the stream. They'll fall when the sun burns through. So the disintegrating fog is like a marker. No fog here, they fell here already. But over here, fog still there, they haven't fallen here yet.

 

[Chaz]

The thing about tricos is it's one of the longest hatch periods of any mayfly on the LL it lasts from approx. 7/1 to 12/1. That's a pretty long time. As fall progresses they fall later and later during the day.

 

[blueheron]

The best part of spent mayflies are the ones present the next day,
the trout don't forget the easy meal and will sometimes key in on them throughout the day. When you find yourself in a multiple hatch and can't figure out what in the world they're taking, look for spent bugs to match for size and tie on a rusty spinner of the appropriate size, you will be presently surprised. I've had trout taking spinners this year like they were chasing caddis, charging through the film and nearly launching themselves into space. I can't explain it but other observant guys have noticed the same behavior.

 

[Stevie-B]

Even if the spinner fall doesn't happen or you are pre-spinner fall, tie on a spinner and see what happens. I've caught many fish when the spinners haven't started yet or not at all because the trout are "anticipating" the easy meal.