By mid-May air temperatures are pushing into the 70’s and water temps are in the 50’s making fish hungry. It’s at this time that the first of the pale yellow mayfly emerges. Ephemerella invaria, commonly called “sulfurs”, begin emerging.
Late May to mid-June, we start to see a second pale yellow mayfly emerging from the water. Ephemerella dorothea is another sulfur colored mayfly that is, however, a size #18. The dorothea hatch emerges with the invarias: two pale yellow mayflies coming off the water; one size #16 and another size #18.
Sounds confusing, but if fish are refusing your size #16 sulfur pattern, change to one that is size #18 and you might have more success.
Four or five full weeks of pale yellow mayflies fill the air in the warm evenings, surrounded by the quiet solitude of the cold water resource. When the hatch and spinnerfall is finished, it’s still light enough to find your way out of the stream and back to the car. That’s fishing the sulfur hatch.
Tie up six sulphur nymphs, emergers, dries, or spinners and bring them to the May 11th chapter meeting. There will be two raffles.