Preface - sometimes in fishing, like a lot of things, there is no explanation. Or, plainly, my lack of skill is the explanation.

I had never fished a significant stonefly hatch. But yesterday I fished over aggressively rising trout for half an hour on little black stones and couldn't so much as get a look. These are fish I can usually get a good handle on in good or even sparse hatches.

I didn't have a dedicated pattern so used an Adams and a few darker or black caddis patterns to no avail. I never found a pattern to be too important so much as the feeding rhythm and presentation during heavy top feeding except in the clearest slowest pools, which this was definitely not. And even then, rising fish are always willing to come up and give it a look before rejecting which wasn't happening. I definitely saw fish taking the stoneflies in the surface film.

Also, they were going back completely to their bottom lie after each rise. None would hover toward the top. I considered they might be chasing bugs to the top, but I'd thought stoneflies do not dive to lay eggs and also emerge on land. This confused me. I also tried sinking and swingin with no change.

I am hoping to get some tips and possibly favorite patterns for fishing this hatch. Was the heavy movement of the egg layers on the water the difference? The imitation that crucial?

Hope to draw on the wealth of knowledge here. If your explanation is 'me' well that might be just as accurate as any too.

Thanks,
Brian

Possibly were not rising to stoneflies? DaveS and I fished the little J on Sunday with a nice amount stones hatching. Some fished seem to take notice. Dave and I each put on different pattern with no avail. We figure they were actually eating BWOs that we barely took notice to. However, Dave did figure out the water drip hatch.

I'd guess maybe the trout either didn't like the proportions of your pattern or it was too big or too small, or they were taking something else.
What I've always had success with during the early black stones is either a #18 black caddis tied sprasely, ie, thin body, or for #14 a black henryville special.
Imparting some motion to the fly will help, a lot of times trout want some motion when these flies are swarming.

should of sunk the fly,they are taking just beneath the surface..

you need a new rod, those trout didn't like the one you had!
just teasing, I'm with sandfly, if they won't take what you offer on the surface, try just under the surface with an emerger pattern, if sinking the dry fly doesn't work, sometimes a general nymph like a hares ear or pheasant tail, fished shallow with some floatant on it, will do the trick.

Yeah, what Chaz said....ya gotta skitter it, twitch it let it sit andtwitch it again.

I find that when the stones are coming back to lay eggs as is what happens when you see them on the water, they skitter across and sometimes get boogered up and struggle. this seems to be what the trouts are looking for. Some movement, eratic short twitches for the strugglers and lift the rod tip to make it skitter. It works.

My guess is masking hatch...they were taking the midges...midge emerges if splashy. Or one of the above answers.

I vote for the new rod idea....

Two thoughts come to mind. The trout were either eating swimming stones or they were taking midges or bwo's. Did you infact see them eating stones? Not doubting you're right, but if they were, then they were eating the stones as they were swimming to the surface. That's when you get above the fish sink your fly and swing it to resemble the swimming stone.

Do stones not crawl to land and hatch from the bank? Therefore making the stonefly emerger pattern pointless? If they were taking anything in the film it was probably not a stonefly, or am I wrong? Please correct me, I'm still learning.

Quote:

Yes they do.....following will be assertions that they *sometimes" hatch in the water column. I've never seen it.

It is common for stonefly "hatches" to be vexing. When they crawl to the streamside rocks and emerge they wait til sunny, still aie to take flight then go to flitting around. When they hit the water laying eggs the trout take them and I believe the trout are so used to seeing them move across the water that they seldom take drag free drifts without a twitch or two....or even a skitter.

All good insight! New rod is on order...

And that's the funny thing - I think I tried just about all of the above, minus a different fly altogether. I did have a positive visual of trout eating the stoneflies, and I did try to sink and skitter both the Adams and a 16/18 black caddis.

But as was proposed, perhaps I see two trout taking a stonefly or two, and the rest are eating bwo emergers or midges...it wouldn't make sense otherwise as to why they appeared to be coming the whole way from bottom each time to get what they were after without a waterborne emergence. Otherwise, why wouldn't they hover toward the top? Goes back to the discussion about how they emerge. Unless some stoneflies were to dive to lay eggs and come back up.

What's funny too is I tied up a dozen bwo CDC emergers Last week and maybe i missed a great opportunity to use them.

Do we have any resident stonefly life cycle experts?

Thanks again guys.

Actually, I've seen it every March (except for this year) on the Susquehanna. I haven't fished the Susquehanna this year. So I know for a fact they swim to the surface.

Interesting midgeman. The fish behavior in the water column could possibly be evidence of what you claim.

Maurice - That was my other thought, about the heavy fluttering. There is so much movement by those things on the surface it is hard to replicate. On the other hand, I'd have thought the water I was fishing was just swift enough to keep the fish from being too keen on degree of movement. Maybe I underestimate them.

Just a perfect combo of factors perhaps. Plus, I was in SC pa, it was 330, and the wife was making me dinner at 6. She was incredibly lucky I mananged to make it back to pburgh by 630. Or maybe I was
...gulp.

Here is a excerpt from "Stoneflies" by Carl Richards, Doug Swisher, and Fred Arbona on how they hatch :