Mille Lacs Mayfly Hatch

Rumor has it that the mayfly hatch is just about on. Whether that is true or not, it is just about that time.

Many people think of they mayfly hatch as a time to gather up the family… and go shopping. I have talked to a few fisherman and have experience myself in knowing that this doesn’t have to be the case.

When the Mayflies hatch… how do you change up your presentation to get the “feeding frenzy” eyes or the “full gullet” eyes to respond to your baits?

Here are my thoughts: Make sure you try various presentations. Try and adapt to the fish you are targeting. Watch your electronics. If the fish are suspended within the clouds of bugs… they are in feeding mode. Try a lure that is colored to “match the hatch”. Try a crank or spinner rig in gold or a darker color to match that of the mayfly.
If the eyes are sitting on bottom… either the hatch hasn’t started in that particular spot, or the eye’s are full. In these cases, try a larger bait to get an instictive bite. The idea that slower is better with more dormant fish is not always the case. Sometimes speeding up the presentation will cause the fish to bite just on instinct. In these cases I might try a shiner on a 3 way rig to get the bait down deep and troll quickly thorugh those areas.

What tactics have been successful to you during these hatch periods?

When the hatch happens, I pull or cast mayfly rigs. A mayfly rig in gold with about 1″ of crawler is hard to beat during a hatch. Use 4-5 small gold beads and a size 0 or 00 hammered gold blade on a single hook harness.

Tie a loop in the end of the line, you can then either attatch it to a snap swivel for trolling or add an egg sinker above the line for casting.

I’ve also had success trolling cranks right through the bug hatches. I truely believe that Walleyes spend much of the hatch feeding on the smaller fish that are there to eat the bugs.

Orange cranks, right through the middle, about 6-7 feet down

I’ve had good luck searching for pods of larvae with my locator and fishing under the pods. Areas where sand transitions into mud can be good.

The northend of Mille Lacs has the bugs now!!! I’m hoping that the wind keeps them in their end!