You aren't allowed to use a fly rod in B.A.S.S. tournaments; otherwise, you might see some guys whipping them out today. There's a huge mayfly hatch going on in a wide area of the Mississippi River this morning. Huge as in numbers, and huge as in size of the individual mayflies.
There was a solid layer of squished mayflies lining the sidewalk at the convenience store we stopped in on the way to the launch.
Aaron Martens has been watching bass coming to the surface to sip off the big aquatic insects.
For those of you that don't know, mayflies lay their eggs over water. As they hatch, the insects come to the surface and spread their wings until they're dry enough to fly. Sometimes it takes several attempts, and the mayflies kind of hop along the surface, which is tempting to any fish, especially as big as these bugs are.
Back to the matter at hand, Martens' action has slowed a bit. He's still seeing plenty of fish on his sonar. He just shed The Bassmasters TV Host Mark Zona from his boat, something that seemed to help Brent Chapman significantly on the Sunday of his win at Toledo Bend.
We'll see what Zona's exit does for Martens now.