06/30/2026
At first glance these seem like polar opposite hatches. A giant stonefly and a tiny mayfly. 2X vs 6X. Early summer vs. late summer. Twitch vs. dead drift. What these bugs do have in common, however, is that they are both highly sought after and anticipated hatches that can either be extremely frustrating or highly rewarding - the difference resulting from some mixture of luck and skill.
Everyone talks about the “salmonfly hatch”. For many of us, this is the one latin name we never forget: Pteronarcys Californica. The attraction of big trout slamming giant flies leads to many anglers planning their summer fishing trips around this hatch. As any semi-experienced angler knows, however, is that the experience fishing the hatch can be highly volatile. Sure, maybe all of your fishing dreams come true and fish are aggressively willing to eat your salmonfly pattern all over the river. It happens. Probably a more common experience is endlessly casting big foam 1 inch off of the grassy banks for 10 hours for maybe 2 fish and a couple of misses. During the salmonfly hatch, fish can become gorged and full from nymphs and adults or the fishing pressure can be so thick trout quickly learn to become tight lipped and more reserved.
Similarly, it’s mesmerizing to see a 50 foot Trico cloud rising up from the river bank right after sunrise. “Just wait until these spinners hit the water.” Sure enough, they do. Trout pod up and sometimes even appear to create their own riffles in the water by steadily rising over and over again to millions of these tiny mayflies. It seems that all you have to do is get your fly in there! Again, sometimes it all works out. More often than not, however, is that your fly just doesn’t get noticed or gets ignored amidst all of the naturals. You’ve got up before sunlight, fished to the same pod of fish for 3 hours, the hatch is done and you still haven’t come tight.
Tell us your stories… Leave us a comment or a DM on your most productive or unproductive time fishing one of these hatches!
We’ve recently finished filming both a Fish Camp Salmonfly Masterclass and a separate Trico Masterclass so we’ll keep everyone updated once
