Dry fly
White Fly
Late-summer white mayfly
TroutSurface
The late-summer white mayfly — Ephoron leukon — that blankets eastern rivers like the Yellow Breeches and the lower Susquehanna in a brief, frenzied evening hatch. Pale all over, emerging and moulting almost at once, it brings every size of fish up in the last light of August.
Fish this when
Late August into September, in the last hour of light and after dark on eastern freestone and limestone rivers. When the white fly is up in numbers, fish a pale size 12–14 dun or spinner into the blizzard and hold your nerve.
Why it works
Ephoron hatch in enormous, compressed evening emergences that trigger sustained surface feeding from fish that ignore daytime flies. A pale all-white dun matches the blizzard, and the brief window concentrates the action into a frenzy.
Naturals it imitates
Ephoron leukon — pale late-summer mayfly
Typical zone & fishable range
usually
Surface
Film
Subsurface
Deep
Setup sensitivity: medium
Quick facts
Tying difficulty
Beginner-friendly