Anyone ever heard of a pattern called "Mayfly"?

[Hellgrammite 0]

On Rodtrip.com is a page about fishing the Ambléve in the Ardennes, and in it they mention the following list of patterns:

 

Klinkhammer

Deer Hair Sedge

BWO

Pheasant Tail

Shrimp

Craddock

Czech Nymph

GRHE Nymph

Mayfly

 

Now... anyone have any idea what they mean by "Mayfly"? Or craddock for that matter?

 

The page, if anyone is interested: http://www.rodtrip.com/2015/02/03/a-fly-fishing-season-on-the-ambleve/

[Uncle Lars 0]

Howdy!

 

Took a look at th ewebsite and they ar eusing the catch all expression Mayfly to indicate a dry fly.

 

In the UK they had quaint names for every bug worthy of tying but this website gave me the impression that the Mayfly is an afterthought, possibly due to a weak or undependable emergence schedule?

 

Nice looking mayfly on their site. Almost a yellow drake.

[flytire 0]

Mayfly

 

 

 

 

:)

[FlaFly 0]

If you are talking generically about mayflies, go to the fly pattern database (top of this page) and search for mayfly patterns. There are hundreds of them.

 

Unfortunately lots of the flies in the FPDB don't have step-by-step instructions. For that you can either Google Images "mayfly fly pattern" or Google "Youtube tying mayfly"... lots of good sources, some simpler than others.

[rockworm 0]

If I am not mistaken the term "Mayfly" in Great Britain is used to denote a single species (Ephemera danica or E vulgata I think.) In North America we use the term "mayfly" to denote any of the Ephemeroptera.

[cjsnyder1234 0]

Check out the March brown dry fly pattern something like this. You can just change color for the naturals in your area.

 

[Hellgrammite 0]

Thank you all for the answers, though it seems I should have been clearer.

 

I know quite well what a mayfly (the natural, living critter) is. I was wondering if anyone had any idea what pattern they were talking about, if there was one, because "mayfly" is, well... as has been shown, so non-descriptive when talking about artificial flies as to be nearly meaningless. There are thousands (at least) of patterns to match countless species of naturals which imitate, or can imitate, mayflies, in all sorts of colors, sizes, shapes, and life stages. As they did bother to mention "BWO" by name in their list, I figured that "Mayfly" may not just be a catch-all term for "mayflies" because, why list BWO separate? I thought there could be some heretofore unknown (to me) pattern just named "mayfly".

[Crackaig 0]

What they are talking about is a Mayfly imitation. Using Mayfly in its correct sense as a member of the Ephemerella group, rather than it's generic sense of any up winged fly. This will usually indicate a dry pattern as, if a nymph or wet fly was called for, it would normally be specified. The meaninglessness of "Mayfly" has come about by abusing the name into meaning any up wing fly. A BWO, for example is NOT a mayfly, its a blue winged olive. Certainly this side of the big pond it aint.

 

Cheers,

C.

[redietz 0]

Specifically, they meant the Emphera danica (or vulgata), which is for all intents and purposes the same as the Green Drake (E guttulata) here in the eastern US. (In fact, they sometimes call it a green drake.)

[rockworm 0]

There are any number of "Mayfly" patterns. Here's one from DE Moseley:

Hook: dry fly #8 or 10

Thread: brown

Rib: fine gold oval tinsel

Tail 3-4 cock pheasant tail fibers

Body: Mix of hare's ear and yellow seal

Hackle: medium olive, blue dun. and lemon-yellow cock (trimmed beneath shank)

 

One of my favourites has a body of real raffia:

 

Fanwing Mayfly

 

Hook: dry fly #8 or 10

Thread: brown

Rib: red floss

Tail: cock pheasant tail fibers

Body: natural raffia

Wings: Two lemon-yellow dyed mallard breast feathers

Hackle: Light red game (light brown or dark ginger to us across the pond)

[FLdk 0]

Ephemera danica it is
And the Craddock has to be this since they are in Belgium
http://www.pechemouche.be/ukcradck.htm

[mikechell 0]

Nice job, FLdk ... I thought I'd looked everywhere for a "craddock" pattern ... guess I missed that one.

[FLdk 0]

Thanks Mike.
I am stubborn when it comes to patterns i don´t know, keep going on and on

[Hellgrammite 0]

Ah, thank you guys! =) Danica does make sense. And ty for the craddock pattern, you are all great!

[Crackaig 0]

And the Craddock has to be this since they are in Belgium

http://www.pechemouche.be/ukcradck.htm

 

The fly in that link is an example of exactly what not to do. The photo, and the material list don't match. Which is right?

 

Cheers,

C.