The Fishing Year
The fishing year has its own rhythm. Here is what each season brings — the species in form, the hatches worth watching, and the windows worth planning around.
Quick ref — peak windows
Trout season opens
Mid-March in most regions. Begin with heavy nymphs — search upstream with Pheasant Tail and Hare's Ear. Move to dries as hatches develop.
Large Dark Olive
The first reliable hatch as water pushes through 7–8°C. Watch for midday emergences — duns sailing downstream in the March sunshine.
Mayfly guide →March Brown
The great stone-clinger hatch on Cantabrian and northern rivers. Late morning to 3pm in fast, rocky water. Hook sizes 10–12.
Mayfly guide →Grannom blizzards
Spring caddis hatching en masse over fast runs — clouds of them. Fish pupae on the swing, then elk-hair caddis on top.
Caddis guide →Spring salmon
Early rivers fish best. Big tubes on heavy sinking lines — the water is cold, fish deep and slow.
Mayfly begins
Late May on limestone loughs and chalk streams. The season's climax approaches — the duffer's fortnight.
Hatch calendar →
Late frosts push hatches back by days. Water must reach 7–8°C before insect activity begins in earnest.