does anyone hit the water then the flies hatch

No, I don't like those things buzzing around my head.

All the time when I am trout fishing.  There are no significant hatches in my local bass waters.  I did just read an articale in BASS about fishing a small popper during the hatch.

Oh yeah!  It's a blast around here when the mayflies hatch because you can catch the bass and any other species for that matter very easily since they all get on the mayflies.  The bass will hit anything that goes in the water near wherever the mayflies are falling off the trees since there are so many baitfish gobbling up the mayflies.

I agree with ABA CAST CHAMP 2006.

Easily the best day I have ever had was during a Miller Mayfly hatch on a tributary of the Susquehanna River. I was only about about 15(53 now) at the time. I had begged one of my friends to get up before sunrise so we could try out the early morning fishing. Finally one of them gave in. These bugs were large white mayflies and they were thick before the sun got on the water. We were using "Rocky" lures which were/are a minnow imitation which of couse looks nothing like a mayfly. We caught fish like mad. By the end of the hatch my Rocky was paintless! I wished I would have framed it looking back. I swear the fish were so hot they were watching the lure fly through the air and would meet it at point of impact often. Several times our lures landed so close together they made one ring and we would still both get one. It was about a mile to this creek and on the way home cars where pulling over asking "where did you catch those fish?" Of course we tried to throw them off course We were doubled up on both stringers and had our bicycle baskets full too and threw back a bunch to boot. Mrs. McHale(buddies mom) was very pleased when we got home as they had a large family to feed. Once the mayfly hatch quit the fish stopped biting. Looking back I do remember surface action and swirls so I have to think they were hitting those flies.. probably grabbing them as they came up to the surface in the emerger form just below the surface when they are most vulnerable.

kbkindle    o yeah  when the may flies hatch out here in indiana its about late june or july  when they get by the millions on tree branches the bait fish will get under the low branches and then the bass come to eat the bait fish great time to fish  they will last about2 weeks    get so many on one of the bridges here you have to watch driving it gets slippery  there are so many dead ones we will take a shovel and scoop them up and make balls out of them about the size of a golf ball and freez them and is one of the best catfish bait there is kb