Having read Jon Beers article, page 33, in Aprils Trout and Salmon magazine, my Brother-in-Law who’s wheelchair bound, he suffers from progressive M.S. lamented that the one thing he misses most is the mayfly hatch.
Jon Beer went on to inform us about the sterling work done by David Percival.
Dave Percival has been the headkeeper on the waters of Cressbrook and Litton Flyfishers for 25 years, and is the man who catches mayfly spinners and then milks them for their eggs.
I thought, if I can't take Richard to the mayfly, then, what about bringing the mayfly to Richard.
I contacted David, and asked if it would be possible to procure a jar of mayfly eggs, later in the season, in order to introduce the aforementioned to my “landlocked” garden pond.
Well, this morning, the eggs, some 15,000, arrived.
Thank you David, for your time and kindness.
David is the man responsible for the DVD “The complete Mayfly” from Fish On Productions: www.fishonproductions.co.uk

The jars are now in a cool dark place, free from foreign bodies and any possible intrusion, as per David’s instructions.

If all goes well the eggs should hatch in about two weeks time.
Should see some result in two years

So I’ll keep you all informed as to their progress.
There's not much to see in the photographs below, thought I'd add anyway.

Sorry to hear your brother in laws suffering from MS, well thought out acts of kindness like your mayfly experiment mean a lot and I hope it works. Watch out for predators in the pond though, fish could well spoil the chances of success!

If you'd like to try a more rapid route to a home grown mayfly hatch there's an easy way to acheive quick results using a fish tank.
I was recently given an old tank and thought if I put an oxygenating water pump in I'd stand a good chance of keeping some nymphs till they hatched.
I bought one of these pumps from Hong Kong for £5.50 delivered. Despite the low cost of the pump it works really well, there's a strong current in the tank and the oxygen level must be OK as the nymphs grow nicely in it.








I put some sand and stones in the tank initially then kicked the river bed to get some nymphs. Debris from the kick sample and the ranunculus provide food and shelter. It's not an expensive system to set up and an interesting thing to take a look at now and then - nice if you're an angler stuck in a wheelchair, god forbid.

I lost the first batch of nymphs in the hot weather (location ,location location) but I've already had several BWO's hatch from a kick sample I took yesterday. Leave something in the tank for the duns to hold onto otherwise they get stuck on the water.


The pictures below show the tank prior to the introduction of the kick sample - it's a bit cloudier now alright but not so much as to look bad.

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Musha rig um du rum da

I am just wondering exactly how much trouble I would be in with 'er indoors if I were to deliberately engineer a hatch of insects in the house.

I'm coming up with a first approximation of "lots".

Questions could well be raised in the house about this latest addition to my fishing related debris but it's diplomatically sited on the patio (now on the shady side)

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Musha rig um du rum da

I'll have to admit, I had my ear chewed somewhat regarding the placement of said jars.I was told,"Not in the house. Not now, not ever!"

So I came up with a cunning plan. I've unscrewed the bath panel and placed the jars safely underneath the bath then replaced the bath panel.

In about two weeks or so, I'll have to keep unscrewing the bath panel to check on the eggs/nymphs progress, expectant father and all that.

There's no chance her in doors will happen upon my little experiment!

However, eyebrow's will be raised when I'm seen taking a screwdriver to the bog.I'll just tell her I'm constipated and working it out

I think it would be instant divorce for me if I attempted this!

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Using a looper and a top makes for a much better furled leader!

I've 21 fish in the pond which will decimate any mayfly nymphs over their two-year cycle. I've taken the decision to remove all fish from my pond in order to give the mayfly a fighting chance.
Also have a massive population of newts which I have no intention of removing.
Things still all quiet in the incubation jars.
Should have some swimmers next week.

youve done a step better than me. I bought a small second hand aquarium tank for the office window. It never made the house.. she had never said out right NO to anything before! Dont get it , I wonder if Darwin had to put up with this?
This is a brilliant project, do keep posting about it, even if it looks like few responces, people will be interested to see how it goes. For those doing similar in tanks from stream samples watch out for Alder nymphs, apparantly they can eat virtualy every thing in the tank.

Cheers WP, the odd thing is the lack of response from the dead skunk himself after receiving a large dollop of friendly advice on how to create a viable and controllable way of producing the hatch which he's trying to acheive but there you go.

One failing in the pump is that the intake grille becomes blocked by the free debris which circulates in the tank.
I'll be buying one of those packs of garlic bulbs which are sold in a net and use that as a primary filter.

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Musha rig um du rum da

Hi Guys, Yes, thanks for all the good information, but for me it has always been about trying to keep it all as close to natural as possible.
My apologies if anyone thinks I've not taken note of their good advice, trust me I have, but it is , as I've said, about doing it alfresco.
In previous years I've had a good hatch of olives.This year, however I fear the fish have decimated the olive nymphs.
I also have a massive amount of newts in the pond, which have been with me for years...more now than ever.Also had an unwelcome visitation for a teal duck which stayed for a few months.It destroyed most of the oxygen plants in the pond.
The newts usually lay their eggs on the oxygen plant leaves then wrap, but this year they have laid their eggs in the blanket weed. I'll leave the blanket weed as this will provide food for the mayfly nymphs now and during winter as it dies-back.