Fly Fishing the Stock Market: How to Search for, Catch, and Net the Market's Best Trades

CHAPTER 8

Matching the Hatch

Fly fishing for the wrong fish in the wrong season with the wrong fly pattern is an exercise in futility. It will seldom yield success. No matter where you fly fish, there are many differing fly hatches—interday, intraday, weekly, and monthly. These hatches continually challenge fly fishermen by forcing them to imitate these insect variants responsible for the changing fishing conditions. It is a beautiful thing when you have successfully “matched the hatch.” Every other cast is productive, and onlookers want to know what fly you are using.

Fly hatches, like the stock market, are cyclical, predictable, and identifiable. Mastering the ability to imitate the exact shape, size, color, and presentation of the current fly hatch—matching the hatch—is what separates the experts from the amateurs in fly fishing.

Arguably, the most prolific fly hatch for trout is that of mayflies. These insects provide a steady supply of food for fish to thrive on. Mayflies hatch into larva and begin their life cycle. This cycle consists of four stages, beginning with the nymph stage and ending with the spinner stage, after the adult dun returns to the water and lays eggs (Figure 8.1). Each stage requires anglers to use different pattern variations of a type of fly and to fish them differently—at various depths. In addition to size, appearance, and color, anglers must also imitate the presentation and movement of these insects.

FIGURE 8.1 Life cycle of the mayfly.

Stages of ...