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The other night DH and I went fishing at our favorite spot. After sitting there for awhile with our lines in the lake, we found ourselves in the middle of cloud of mayflies. They were everywhere! Our clothes were covered with them, they flew in our mouths, stuck to our glasses and were not in any way deterred by the insect repellent we had sprayed on ourselves. I got on my cell to find out about them and they covered the screen. I grew up in the city, and had never seen these before. We fish at this lake all the time and have never really been bothered by anything other than mosquitoes, so this was a new experience. About an hour later they finally died down. I am sure I ate several of them.
They are making a comeback. A sign of healthy habit. Google Stillwater, mn mayflies. It's on the Mississippi. A few towns along the Mississippi turn off street lights so not to attract too many, the roads get slick with them and cause accidents. They only last a week or so. Maybe you had always missed the short time they are out. The birds gobble them up. Saw a red bellied sap sucker eat so many it couldn't swallow another one and spit it out. It would catch one and come to my humming bird feeder dunk the mayfly into a spot that had busted over and over most of the day, sure it had babies.
Last edited by Izzie1213; 06-29-2017 at 12:00 PM..
Reason: Missed info
Many years ago I would night fish with an older man that used a carbide miner's light: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbide_lamp. What I loved about his carbide light was that many of the bugs, including mayflies and mosquitos would fly into the flame and immediately get singed. Even if it attracted more; it still was worth the revenge that the light delivered. If we set it up right on the water the wingless bug carcasses would attract fish.
When the hatch is on here in Idaho, driving a road that runs along a river can result in a car being carpeted on the outside with mayflies, especially on the front end.
I've had to stop and flush them out of a car's radiator, as there can be so many the vanes in the radiator can become clogged, causing it to overheat.
Like another poster mentioned, they are a sign of a good healthy ecosystem. And a great time to catch some real big trout. The big fish gorge on a hatch and will bite any fly that vaguely resembles the real deal.
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