The hatch chart · Mayfly
Blue-winged Olive
Serratella ignita
- Natural’s size
- Hook 14–16
- Time of day
- Evening; spinner falls at dusk
- At its peak
- July, August, September
- Fly to try
- Parachute Adams, size 16; Rusty Spinner
The year
- JJanuary: not expected
- FFebruary: not expected
- MMarch: not expected
- AApril: not expected
- MMay: not expected
- JJune: some about
- JJuly: main hatch
- AAugust: main hatch
- SSeptember: main hatch
- OOctober: some about
- NNovember: not expected
- DDecember: not expected
In the hand
The only common olive with three tails. Wings dark blue-grey and noticeably tall, body olive-green turning rusty in the female. The egg-laying female is the “sherry spinner”, and carries a green ball of eggs under her tail.
On the river
The backbone of summer evening fishing on most rivers. Spinners gather over riffles at sunset and fall spent downstream, where trout sip them in the glides and tailouts.