The sulphur mayfly (Ephemerella dorothea) is one of the most fascinating hatches I fish. There are times when it changes the rules just when I think I have it figured out. Ed Shenk told me the hatch was on, so I took a mini vacation to fish Big Spring Creek. The first two evenings many duns were hatching and the spinner fall was great and had over two hours of great sulphur fishing. The third evening very few flies came off and few trout were rising. The fourth evening was a repeat of the first two and the fishing was outstanding.
One small stream I fish in Pennsylvania has more challenging trout than any stream I fish. It also has some of the best fishing on the sulphur mayfly hatch. However, the duns don’t come off until it is almost dark and the spinners follow. My best fishing on this stream comes when I set myself up so I fish into the sunset. Even when the sun is below the horizon I can still locate some of the rising trout by the riseforms they create. This is very challenging fishing but it is exceptionally rewarding.
The sulphur is a very heavy hatch on many mountain streams, starting in mid May and lasting until late June. Late one evening my son and I were setting up our tent on a stream in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Jeff took his rod to fish the last half hour of daylight just above our tent. Minutes later he came running back to our tent. He exclaimed, “Dad, get your fly rod and follow me.” Just upstream a narrow pool boxed in by thick laurel was covered with sulphur duns and spinners. We counted eleven trout feeding on these naturals in that pool and we had excellent fishing on the stream until it became dark.
My favorite two drys for this hatch are Shenk’s Sulphur and Murray’s Sulphur both in sizes 16 and 18.