White Mayfly Hatch

Shawn Joseph

Shawn Joseph

Active member
Joined
Mar 14, 2023
Messages
202
Location
Montgomery County
Looking to fish the north branch in a couple of weeks. Wondering if anyone is seeing any hatches going on in the lower Susky?
 
Might be a bit early - I'd give it a week or two.
Would be interesting to hear from some Susky guys who have been out more than I.
 
Anyone see any white flies yet down in Lancaster or dauphin counties?
 
Last week, 100% sure white flies above Duncannon. Not many and that's about 3 weeks early for them. I'd expect it to pick up steam and be rolling strong in Harrisburg 7-10 days and 10-14 for Duncannon to Sunbury. Get your weed wacker goggles and bandana ready 😂
 
krayfish2 said:
Last week, 100% sure white flies above Duncannon. Not many and that's about 3 weeks early for them. I'd expect it to pick up steam and be rolling strong in Harrisburg 7-10 days and 10-14 for Duncannon to Sunbury. Get your weed wacker goggles and bandana ready 😂
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Do they make it up to Towanda on the North Branch?
 
According to reports, they are almost full steam north of Harrisburg already. Hope to get a first hand report shortly
 
I saw what appeared to be a few Sat. evening on the North Branch just above Wilkes Barre.
 
Birds were eating something in air and on water last few nights below Harrisburg. Saw some white mayflies 14ish. A few rings on water.
 
I saw several posts regarding the white fly on the Susquehanna. Has anyone had first hand experience with this years white fly hatch ? If so, where and when did you encounter the Ephoron leukon. Its emergence this year seems later than usual.
 
troutmerris said:
I saw several posts regarding the white fly on the Susquehanna. Has anyone had first hand experience with this years white fly hatch ? If so, where and when did you encounter the Ephoron leukon. Its emergence this year seems later than usual.
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Like any hatch, it can be hard to track or predict. This is made more complicated by the vast size of the Susky watershed. This insect can be coming off on some parts of the river but not others. Moreover, it's not always the same level every day when it's at its peak.

Very generally, the hatch moves upriver and is usually going full force around Harrisburg in the first week of August.
 
Agree, it's just about time for it to blow up. Not late at all. Water is up slightly higher than normal and don't know if that will impact anything.

$20 for anyone who parks at the gas pumps, front street Hbg......must fuel up between 9 & 9:30 with all your doors open and with interior lights on. You'll be cleaning mayflies out of the vehicle for weeks 😁
 
Has anyone caught a real big one on the white fly on top? I may have had a few in 12- 14 maybe but no 18-20s.
 
I have don't have much experience fishing during the hatch, but I never caught much. It is something to see. I just googled up the hatch and came up with an article from Penn Live detailing the start of the hatch last year and it was late June. That can't be right can it. Isn't the Hex hatch the one where they need to plow the bridges? Is the Hex hatch fishable? My friend was hiking the River trail one morning a couple years ago and saw what he thought was the Hex bringing up multiple fish.
 
White flies have been steady above Wilkes Barre on the North Branch for over a week now. The heaviest hatch I've seen was Sat. Aug. 5th. Not much worth noting until after 8pm. I hooked up with several bass and 4 channel cats, they are too much, long drawn out tug of war.
 
Fished above Harrisburg last night. Pretty strong white fly hatch. Sadly, very few / short lived risers.
 
Just got home really heavy hatch tonight on the north branch. Not many risers. Caught a handful of average fish just before the hatch got going.
 
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