I never did a lot of trout fishing anyway, and when I did get on a trout stream, most of the time I used either nymphs, streamers or some type of terrestrial pattern.
IMO, the popularity of fishing dry flies is more about being able to see the fish react to the fly floating on the surface. We tend to delight more in what we can visually see.
Nymphs & most subsurface flies are often more productive, but less satisfying for many folks, and for some harder to obtain results.
I love fishing surface flies, but for trout, and trying to be on the water during a hatch to take advantage of using dry flies was never something I was able to do consistently. I rather be fishing than waiting for a hatch too, so nymphs, streamers & even wet flies were tied to my tippet more than dry flies.
IMO, and just an observation I've made. Flies for trout that are touted have changed a lot over the years. Yes, there are still those folks who stick with the classic styles & patterns, but many of the "newer" flies are flashier & more complex than older flies. At one time, many of what is used today, would have been scoffed at. Many of today's trout flies more resemble flies used for bass, pike, etc. that they do older trout flies. The mind set has changed.
That may not be a bad thing, I've used a lot of flies for trout in the past that were more like my bass flies, and had guys tell me, that won't work, yet it did.
As far as the insect populations, aquatic or otherwise, I have no idea what's happening there. Seems everyone is doing studies, and the sky is falling as a result. There seems to be plenty of insects in my area, There was a rather large Wolf Spider in my bathroom the other night & I even saw some mayflies the other day on my truck, but there's no trout here anyway.
I'm not reading anything from the various forums or websites that I visit where trout folks post regularly to indicate any issue, so I'll simply note that study & keep doing what I've always done.
