White Miller Adult Caddisfly (nectopsyche species)

The egg laying activity it the highlight of the White Miller hatch as far as I am
concerned. It some streams it starts in the late afternoon and gets to going
stronger near dark. Of course, as with many other egg laying insects, it seems to
the egg laying seems to start much earlier and last longer during the daylight
hours if it is very cloudy or overcast. The egg laying probably continues through
the night. In some eastern streams, the egg laying appears to occur mostly
during the night and rarely ever during the daylight hours.

The females fly just above the water but do touch and even lite on the surface
when they deposit their eggs. The trout eat them as fast as they can catch them
and sometimes this is a sight to behold. I have seen the trout chase them when
they were in the air not touching the water. I have seen trout come completely out
of the water attempting to get them flying. .

The light colored caddis are easy to spot, even in low light situations. Just by
watching the stream you can observe where most of the activity is occurring. At
times there are so many flies on the water it is difficult to get the trout to notice
your fly. We have had the best results working on individual trout rising, or I
should say chasing the egg laying females.

Most of the time, we use a down and across presentation but I don't think it
matters much. Getting the fly to where a trout are trying to catch an egg laying
female is the key to it. If there's very much light, getting the fly to the fish before
they can see the leader may be of some benefit. I'm sure an up stream
presentation will work under most situations.

If you can't find an individual trout to fish to, just present the fly in the area of the
stream you last saw any trout splashing the surface after the egg layers. This
can be a very fun way to catch trout. I have taken several in a very short period
of time when they were a lot of female White Miller caddisflies on the water. I
have also seen so many of the egg layers on the water at the same time, it made
it difficult to catch a fish. There was just too many real White Millers for the trout
to choose my imitation of them. Too many flies on the water can reduce your
odds of success.
Copyright 2013 James Marsh
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