Alder Fly Hatch

[trouthunter]

I have never fished this hatch but i hear it can get crazy up in Errol, any one know any other productive rivers where this hatch happens as well as what patterns that are used.


Thanks in advanced Kyle

[BugChucka]

The Newfound used to get some good caddis hatches and if I remember correctly it also had some Alders...

[troutscout]

About 3 years ago I was in Errol for an Alder hatch (by good fortune not planning). I have never seen anything like it. There's a Mobil station right at the bridge over the Androscoggin as you enter Errol from the East. The normally white building was black with perched alder flies and the attendant was cleaning up the spent flies with a shovel. I can tell you he was not at all interested in my running commentary. Needless to say the fishing was awful...those fish were already stuffed.

Hornberg's dry seem to be entirely satisfactory during the hatch...so long as there is not too much competition with the real thing.

[Salmon Slayer]

As a biology student I've done alot of work with the insects in the Newfound, and I can confirm that there are some alderflies in the Newfound, but not many, probably not even enough to constitute a true "hatch".

[maddog48]

I read in American Angler a few years ago that an Adams tied delta wing style with a little darker body makes a great Alder Fly pattern.


Mike

[Gerry]

I thought I had some close-ups of some alder flies, but I couldn't find any. I had to use a screen grabber to snip a couple pictures out of a video I took last June on the Androscoggin - Two years in a row I hit the hatch just right - wow, nothing quite like seeing trout crashing the surface like bluefish. In any case here is a link to the photos. http://www.flyfishnewengland.com/gallery/Alder-fly-photos.htm

As far as a pattern, here is a link to fly patterns on the Merrimack R. Valley TU web site, which has a "Low Profile" alder pattern. You can also use a siz 10 or 12 elkhair caddis, with a dark body and tan/dark brown mixed elk hair.
http://www.merrimacktu.org/fly_of_the_month.htm

tight lines,
Gerry

[kmudgn]

The Manchester TU chapter goes up to Errol each year in late June for the hatch. Some years the alders cover the earth, other times they are sparse.

Any large dark color caddis works as an alder fly, but there are two different alder flys listed in many books. The true alder (a western fly) and a dark caddis that is known as an "alder" in New England

[dcs2]

I've read that the "alder flies" on the Andro are zebra caddis. At the Pelham fly fishing show, there was a talk on fishing this hatch. Sounds great.

[Tom Jutras]

Kyle
I have seen the alder flies on the Rapid River in Maine. I have had good luck with a burned wing pattern that I tie with brown mottled hen feathers.
I strip fast across glassy glides and shake my rod tip like a paint mixer. Next time I fish that hatch I'm going to try a pupa as a dropper and try a drag free float. The hatch guide for New England Trout Streams has a good picture of the natural and the imitations on the opposite page.