Fishing the Madison one July evening and a mayfly hatch really blooms, right before a hailstorm flattened pretty much everything (and everyone that didn't make it back to their cars). This was about the time when the Epeorus were starting up, although I hadn't heard much up to that point, so I put on what I usually use and got a few refusals and nothing else; dropped a size and got 1 hookup (popped off) and more refusals. In the mean time the fish are going off like someone dropped pellets in a hatchery race, with the hailstorm crawling up the valley. I finally got my hands on one of the bugs (gently) and found it to be about a #16 in a bright olive, almost apple green, something I had none of in a mayfly; did manage a fish on a green caddis and a flav parachute (a few of them were scattered through the hatch). Tried a few emergers, too, but the fish I could see feeding, and I could see a lot of fish feeding, seemed to be taking the duns so for the most part was a spectator not a participant. Stopped by Blue Ribbon the next morning and was told that it was the Epeorus (that was a new color to me; maybe because it was early in the season?), so I bought some bright green biots and tied up some duns in the parking lot before the hatch that evening. Of course I never saw those bugs again.

Regards,
Scott