Scratch the Hatch

FOR ANGLERS, A hatch is a significant influx of a large quantity of a particular prey item in or around a body of water over a relatively short period of time. Hatches, often part of an aquatic insect life cycle, can be as memorable as actually catching fish. Charles Meck, for example, recalled in Meeting & Fishing the Hatches, “I first met Paraleptophlebia strigula [mayfly] in Big Fishing Creek in mid-June several years ago.”

And hatches don’t just affect Latin-speaking trout fly fishermen. Bass anglers have been frustrated by hatches in tournaments that dramatically influenced the smallmouth and largemouth bass bite. Remember