Black Hills Hatch Chart
|
Adult (Genera) |
Adult Hatch Times |
Dry fly patterns/color and size of adult |
Nymph patterns/color and size of nymph |
| Midge(chironomidae) | Year round (best during spring and warm winter days) | Morgan’s Midge, Parachute Midge, Matt’s Midge Size 18-24. Black and Olive | Mercury Midges, Bubble Back Midges, and Zebra Midges in black, red, cream, and olive in sizes 16-24 |
| Spring BWO(baetis) | February-May | Comparaduns, Sparkle Duns, Baetis Thorax Duns Sizes 16-18. Olive to Grey Olive | Pheasant Tail Nymphs in soft hackle, bead head, or flashbacks in sizes 14-18. Or more specifically use WD-40′s, Tungsten Split Back BWO nymphs, Killer Mayfly Nymphs, and Skinny Nelson’s. Nymphs are typically pale olive to dark olive. Nymphs will appear almost black when close to hatching. |
| Little Black Stonefly | January thru April | CDC Black Stonefly, or F-Fly. Sizes 16-18 Black, Mottled Grey | Black Copper Johns in sizes 14-18 |
| Black Caddis | Late March thru June | Black Elk Hair Caddis or CDC Black Caddis. Size 16-18 Black | Tan or Green Larvae. Try Barr’s Uncased Caddis or Solitude’s Crawling Caddis Larva sizes 14-16 |
| Pale Morning Duns | Late July to September | Yellow to Tannish Yellow. Size 14-18. Try Barr’s Vis-a-dun PMD, CDC PMD Thorax Dun’s, PMD Comparaduns, or PMD Sparkle Duns | Pheasant Tail Nymphs in soft hackle, bead head, or flashbacks in sizes 14-16. Our most productive nymph has been the Tungsten Split Case PMD Nymph. |
| Damsel and Dragon Flies | April thru August | Blue Damsel Adult Size 14 | Whitlocks Damsel nymph pattern in olive or brown and Wooly Buggers in sizes 8-12 |
| Yellow Stonefly (Isoperla) | Early May thru July | Small Yellow Stimulators, Para Sally, Lorie’s Little Yellow Stonefly. Size 14-18 | Mercer’s Tungsten Micro Stone, Wade’s Tan North Fork Special, or Barr’s Tung Stone sizes 14-18 |
| Trico (Tricorythodes) | Mid. July thru September | Organza Wing Spinner, Upright Spinner, CDC Throrax Dun. Size 18-22. Males are black, Females are Olive. | Pheasant Tails or Hares Ears light to dark brown in sizes 18-22 |
| Fall BWO (Baetis/Acentrella) | July thru early August | Colors essentially the same as the Spring Baetis, sizes 18-22. Use same patterns as spring baetis only in smaller sizes. | Same as Spring BWO in sizes 18-22 |
| Tan and Olive Caddis | May thru Mid. September (Usually evenings) |
Elk hair, CDC, light tan to dark olive or brown in sizes 14-18 | Pale to dark olive larva and grey to olive pupa. Try Barr’s Uncased Caddis or Solitude’s Crawling Caddis Larva sizes 14-16 sizes 14-18 |
| Speckle Winged Mayfly (Callibaetis) |
May thru June then mid August thru September | Upright Callibaetis Spinner of Parachute Adams. Grey body with speckled wings found in lakes or slower moving water in the streams in sizes 14-18 | Flashback Pheasant Tails and Mighty May Callibaetis Nymph in sizes 14-18 |
| Scuds and shrimp | Year round | Scuds have an olive or tan body with an orange egg sac, the shrimp are transparent to white or light tan in color in sizes 12-18. Our most productive scud pattern is the Hunchback Scud. |
| Terrestrials | March to late October Ants and beetles most of the year. Hoppers are usually fishes June thru October |
Parachute Hopper, Rainy’s Grand hopper, Daves Hopper, Joes Hopper, and Solitude Foam Hoppers in yellow, green and tan. Ant patterns in sizes 12-22, beetles in sizes 12-18 and hoppers are found in size 16 in June and grow to size 6 by October |
Send mail to flyfish@rapidnet.com with questions or comments. Dakota Angler & Outfitter 513 7th St. Rapid City, SD 57701 Phone – 605-341-2450