Matching Callibaetis

The season is winding down, but you may get one more round of “gulpers.”

By Greg Thomas

Matching Callibaetis fly fishing

As summer winds down you may still find a few Callibaetis mayflies on the water, whether fishing lakes and reservoirs that are famous for that bug—Chopaka Lake, Hebgen Reservoir, Ennis Lake, Quake Lake—or some other obscure water.

So, you need to be prepared for this hatch whether it actually comes off or not. Play your cards wrong and you might be rowing through a wad of risers with nothing to offer.

This hatch begins as early as July on many waters and extends into September on most. Action can begin early in the day when Callibaetis nymphs rise through the water column and try to take flight. While sitting on the surface, waiting for their wings to dry, many are taken under by the subtle rises from trout. Even big fish may leave a tiny dimple so don’t disregard a rise based on that factor.

You can check out the patterns we stock to imitate Callibaetis.

Prior to an actual hatch you can focus on the weedbeds near shore. Callibaetis don’t hatch throughout a lake. Instead, they are mostly located in the shallow weedy areas. Remember that, because someone might be having a heyday on Callibaetis in shallow water when you’re paddling around the middle of a lake catching nada.

Basic Hares-Ear and Pheasant Tail nymphs take fish under the surface. But that’s not what the Callibaetis hatch is known for. Instead, many anglers love this hatch because it provides such incredible dry-fly fishing—when the wind is down.

If it's windy, you can nymph hard with these patterns.

In fact, wind is almost everything when this hatch comes off. Prime conditions bring a calm surface and the ability to spot rising fish at a distance. Once an angler does that, they can gently maneuver a boat, SUP or tube towards the fish. Or, if luck is on your side, a fish might swim right to you. The key is to keep surface disturbances to a minimum. If you arrive to a lake or reservoir and the wind is already ripping, the Callibaetis hatch might be a bust—not because the bugs aren’t there; it just seems like the fish don’t key on them unless the surface is mostly calm.

When the Callibaetis really come off, which usually occurs between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., the fish may suck them down one after the other, often with an audible “pluck” or “gulp.” A key for the angler is to get your fly in front of a fish, hopefully right in its feeding lane so that it sees your fly, and rises to it, when so many naturals are on the surface. This takes practice and patience and, often, 5X tippet. A key is to watch a single fish, determine which way it’s traveling and place your cast in the right spot.

Now the real question: nylon or fluorocarbon tippet???

Because the best fishing occurs when the water is slick as glass, you need 5X and sometimes 6X tippet to fool trout. Lots of patterns match Callibaetis. A few of my favorites are the Callibaetis sparkle spinner, a gray Sparkle Dun, a Callibaetis Cripple, and the common Parachute Adams. Early in the season these bugs range from size 14 to 16. Later in the season, meaning now, they are closer to an 18.

Again, lakes and reservoirs are where you commonly find Callibaetis, but sloughs and slow-moving, slick-surfaced streams may produce Callibaetis, too. Think Idaho’s Henry’s Fork and Silver Creek; Washington’s Rocky Ford; and Montana’s spring creeks.

Again, this hatch is about to fade, but you may encounter Callibaetis this coming holiday weekend. So, make sure you “bug up” with some nymphs, spinners and duns and lay waste if the opportunity arrives.