Site under construction. We open March 1st with every pattern back in stock. Everything reads "out of stock" until then — the shop isn't gone, it just hasn't opened yet. In the meantime: read the hatch chart →
What emerges, when, and what to tie on. Built for the rivers we fish in the Laurentides, l'Estrie and the Montérégie — emergence windows, hook sizes, time of day, and the pattern that covers each hatch.
Hatches follow water temperature, not the calendar: a cold spring pushes everything back a week or two, a warm one pulls it forward. Treat every window as ±10 days and trust a stream thermometer over this chart. It is a seasonal reference, not a live conditions report.
At their peak
Epeorus pluralis
#12-14 · Afternoon
Only two tails — most of our other mayflies carry three, which identifies the genus Epeorus at a glance.
Apr 10 – May 20 · Peak: Apr 20 – May 10
The first real mayfly of the year, as soon as water touches 10°C. It emerges on the bottom, so trout take the rising nymph far more often than the dun on top.
Paraleptophlebia adoptiva
#16-18 · Afternoon
Small: size 16–18, distinctly finer than the Quill Gordon despite the similar name.
Apr 20 – May 31 · Peak: Apr 28 – May 18
A small grey-brown mayfly of the slower water, overlapping the Quill Gordon. A grey, damp afternoon brings it off in numbers.
Apr 25 – Jun 5 · Peak: May 5 – May 25
The hatch that really opens the season. Close to clockwork between 1 and 4 p.m., often in a single hour-long window. The male (Red Quill) runs darker than the female.
Leptophlebia cupida
#12-14 · Afternoon
Dark, almost blackish-brown body, with heavily tinted dark-grey wings — the name isn't an exaggeration.
Apr 25 – Jun 5 · Peak: May 1 – May 20
A dark mayfly of margins and backwaters, usually ignored because it comes off alongside the Hendrickson. Watch for nymphs crawling shoreward before the hatch.
Apr 5 – Nov 5 · Peak: Apr 15 – May 20, Sep 5 – Oct 25
Several broods a season, which makes it the most reliable mayfly of the year. The worst days — cold, grey, drizzling — are the best ones. Come autumn, drop to a 20.
Maccaffertium vicarium
#10-12 · Afternoon
Large: size 10–12, with heavily brown-mottled forewings.
May 10 – Jun 20 · Peak: May 20 – Jun 10
A big mottled mayfly that trickles off all afternoon instead of coming in a wave. Few bugs at a time, but big enough to move the better fish.
Maccaffertium fuscum
#12-14 · Evening
Pale cream-tan body, noticeably lighter than the March Brown's mottled brown.
May 18 – Jun 25 · Peak: May 25 – Jun 15
Paler and smaller than the March Brown, taking over late in the day. Taxonomists often treat it as just a form of M. vicarium, but an angler sees two different bugs — match size before colour.
Ephemerella invaria
#14-16 · Evening
Size 14–16, a pale yellow to yellow-olive body — the classic "sulphur" colour.
May 15 – Jun 30 · Peak: May 25 – Jun 20
June's big evening hatch. It starts around 7 p.m. and builds until dark; trout often lock onto emergers rather than duns.
Ephemerella dorothea
#16-18 · Evening
Small: size 16–18, distinctly finer than the Sulphur (14–16).
May 25 – Jul 10 · Peak: Jun 1 – Jun 30
The small pale-yellow sulphur that comes off right at dusk, often in the last twenty minutes of light. Rig your tippet before you can no longer see it.
May 25 – Jun 25 · Peak: Jun 1 – Jun 18
The biggest mayfly of the year and the briefest: ten days on a given river, sometimes less. The spinner fall (Coffin Fly) is often better than the hatch itself.
Ephemera simulans
#10-12 · Evening
A big mayfly, size 10–12, brown-tan body noticeably darker than the Green Drake.
May 28 – Jun 25 · Peak: Jun 3 – Jun 18
The Green Drake's darker cousin, over sand and fine gravel. A short, explosive hatch right before dark.
Siphlonurus spp.
#10-12 · Evening
A large grey mayfly, size 10–12, body and wings in a uniform grey cast.
May 20 – Jun 30 · Peak: May 28 – Jun 20
Nymphs crawl out on the bank to emerge, so you rarely see the hatch — it is the spinner fall over the water that matters.
Epeorus vitreus
#14-16 · Evening
The female carries a salmon-pink washed abdomen, unique among our mayflies.
May 20 – Jul 5 · Peak: Jun 1 – Jun 25
The female carries a pink-washed abdomen, hence the name. Fast, well-oxygenated water in the evening, often mixed in with the sulphurs.
Stenacron interpunctatum
#12-14 · Evening
Cream to very pale yellow body, cream wings, size 12–14.
Jun 5 – Jul 25 · Peak: Jun 15 – Jul 15
The cream mayfly of July evenings, when the rest of the river goes quiet. Fishes well right into full dark.
Drunella cornuta
#14-16 · Morning
Distinctly bigger than a typical Baetis, size 14–16 versus 16–22 for the Blue-Winged Olive.
Jun 5 – Jul 15 · Peak: Jun 12 – Jul 5
An olive noticeably bigger than the Baetis, coming off in the morning rather than the evening — the welcome surprise as June water drops.
Hexagenia limbata
#6-8 · After dark
Enormous: a 25–35 mm body, which is a 3XL hook in size 6 or 8.
Jun 20 – Aug 5 · Peak: Jun 28 – Jul 20
The most spectacular hatch of the summer, over silt bottoms, at dark and often well after. Few casts, but the biggest trout of the year.
Jul 5 – Aug 20 · Peak: Jul 15 – Aug 10
A big golden-yellow mayfly, never abundant but around through August evenings. Often the only thing big enough to interest a fish in low water.
Jul 10 – Sep 30 · Peak: Jul 25 – Sep 10
A morning spinner fall between 7 and 10 a.m., in clouds. Thousands of tiny insects: presentation and tippet decide the day, not the pattern.
Isonychia bicolor
#10-12 · Afternoon
Slate-grey to reddish-brown body, with a distinctive pale stripe under the thorax.
Jun 1 – Oct 20 · Peak: Jun 5 – Jun 30, Aug 20 – Oct 10
Two broods, the second of which carries the back end of the season. The nymph is a fast swimmer that crawls out on rocks to emerge — a wet fly on a tight swing works very well.
Paraleptophlebia mollis
#16-18 · Afternoon
Reddish mahogany-brown body, size 16–18 — same genus as the Blue Quill (Paraleptophlebia), but a warmer tone.
Jun 5 – Sep 25 · Peak: Jun 10 – Jun 30, Aug 25 – Sep 20
A small mahogany mayfly of the slow water, quiet but steady. The second, late-summer wave usually goes unnoticed.
Callibaetis spp.
#14-16 · Morning
Olive-brown to grey body, size 14–16 early summer, smaller (down to 18) later in the season.
May 25 – Sep 20 · Peak: Jun 10 – Aug 20
The mayfly of lakes and ponds, not rivers. Several broods, and the bugs get smaller as the summer goes on.
Brachycentrus spp.
#14-16 · Morning
A very dark brown to black adult, size 14–16, wings held tent-like at rest like all caddisflies.
Apr 25 – Jun 5 · Peak: May 5 – May 25
The season's first big caddis, often right alongside the Hendrickson. Females return to the water to lay in the afternoon — that is when the eating happens.
Chimarra aterrima
#18-20 · Afternoon
Tiny, size 18–20, entirely black body and wings.
Apr 25 – Jun 10 · Peak: May 5 – May 30
Tiny and jet black, swarming over the riffles. Easy to mistake for a midge — look for the tented wings.
Hydropsyche spp.
#14-16 · Evening
Tan to mottled-brown body and wings, size 14–16 — the classic "tan caddis."
May 15 – Sep 20 · Peak: Jun 1 – Aug 15
The summer workhorse: on the water almost every evening from June to September. If you carry one dry fly, make it a tan caddis 14.
Rhyacophila spp.
#12-16 · All day
Bright green to olive larva, with no case or shelter of any kind — bare on the rock.
Apr 15 – Oct 15 · Peak: May 20 – Jul 20
The larva builds no case — it roams the rocks year-round and gets dislodged by any push of current. One of the best nymphs when nothing is hatching.
Cheumatopsyche spp.
#16-18 · Evening
Mottled tan-brown body, tented wings — nearly identical to the Spotted Sedge, but size 16–18.
Jun 1 – Sep 10 · Peak: Jun 20 – Aug 20
A scaled-down Spotted Sedge, usually mixed in with it. When trout refuse your 14, drop to a 16 or 18 before you change patterns.
Sep 1 – Oct 31 · Peak: Sep 15 – Oct 20
Autumn's big orange caddis, the last large meal before winter. A high-floating dry drifted tight to undercut banks.
Jan 15 – Apr 10 · Peak: Feb 10 – Mar 25
Yes, there is a February hatch. On a mild day, look for small black insects walking on the snow along the bank — the trout know them.
Taeniopteryx spp.
#14-16 · All day
Size 14–16, dull brown body, grey-brown wings folded flat.
Mar 20 – May 15 · Peak: Apr 5 – Apr 30
The first insect trout take off the top in spring, often before the Quill Gordon. All day, on mild weather.
Pteronarcys dorsata
#4-8 · After dark
The biggest insect in our rivers: nymph and adult can top 5 cm, a size 4–8 hook in 3XL.
May 20 – Jun 30 · Peak: Jun 1 – Jun 20
The largest insect in our rivers. Nymphs crawl out on the bank at night to emerge — the nymph fishes all year, the adult only a few evenings.
Acroneuria spp.
#6-10 · After dark
Large: size 6–10, one of the biggest dries of the year.
Jun 1 – Jul 31 · Peak: Jun 15 – Jul 15
The adult emerges at night, but the nymph lives two or three years in the gravel — one of the few flies that works twelve months a year.
Isoperla spp.
#14-16 · Evening
Small, size 14–16, uniform bright yellow — the showiest of our stoneflies.
Jun 1 – Jul 25 · Peak: Jun 10 – Jul 10
A small bright-yellow stonefly that skitters rather than settles. A dry twitched once takes more fish than a dead drift.
Chironomidae
#18-24 · All day
Tiny: size 18–24, among the smallest insects in this whole chapter.
Jan 1 – Dec 31 · Peak: Mar 15 – May 15, Oct 1 – Nov 20
The only insect available year-round. In March and November, when there is nothing else, it is this or nothing — and trout feed on it seriously.
Tipulidae
#12-16 · Evening
Very long, fragile legs, slim body, size 12–16 depending on species.
Jun 1 – Sep 30 · Peak: Jun 15 – Jul 20
The long-legged ones bouncing on the water on summer evenings. The larvae tumble along the bottom year-round and are worth a weighted nymph.
Formicidae
#14-20 · All day
A two-segment silhouette (thorax and abdomen joined by a narrow waist), bent legs, size 14–20 depending on species.
Jun 1 – Oct 5 · Peak: Jul 15 – Sep 15
Summer's most underrated fallback. After rain or a blow, and during August's flying-ant days, trout take an ant ahead of anything else.
Coleoptera
#12-18 · All day
An oval, hard, compact body, covered by elytra (hardened forewings) that form a smooth shell.
Jun 1 – Sep 30 · Peak: Jul 1 – Sep 5
All summer along wooded banks. It sits low and is hard to see — fish it tight to the brush and watch the fish instead of the fly.
Acrididae
#8-14 · Afternoon
A big, sturdy silhouette, size 8–14 depending on species and age, with massive folded hind legs.
Jul 15 – Oct 5 · Peak: Aug 5 – Sep 20
August, along meadow banks, on hot windy afternoons. A hard splat against the bank usually beats a delicate presentation.
Gryllidae
#10-14 · Afternoon
Black to dark brown body, stockier and darker than a grasshopper, size 10–14.
Aug 1 – Oct 10 · Peak: Aug 20 – Sep 30
Takes over from the hopper late in the season, especially on small wooded streams. A black silhouette sitting low in the film.
For what's actually happening on the water right now, not the seasonal average: Read What's Working
