Lateral view of a Male Baetis (Baetidae) (Blue-Winged Olive) Mayfly Dun from Mystery Creek #43 in New York

Blue-winged Olives
Baetis

Tiny Baetis mayflies are perhaps the most commonly encountered and imitated by anglers on all American trout streams due to their great abundance, widespread distribution, and trout-friendly emergence habits.

Looking across Island Lake toward the Titcomb Basin—one of the popular crown jewels of the Wind River Mountains

From Island Lake in Wyoming

Stream photos

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Kogotus Stonefly Nymph Kogotus Stonefly Nymph

Dorsal view of a Kogotus (Perlodidae) Stonefly Nymph from Mystery Creek #199 in Washington

This one pretty clearly keys to Kogotus, but it also looks fairly different from specimens I caught in the same creek about a month later in the year. With only one species of the genus known in Washington, I'm not sure about the answer to this ID.

8 Recently Added Photos

27" brown trout, my largest ever. It was the sub-dominant fish in its pool. After this, I hooked the bigger one, but I couldn't land it.

Troutnut is a project started in 2003 by salmonid ecologist Jason "Troutnut" Neuswanger to help anglers and fly tyers unabashedly embrace the entomological side of the sport. Learn more about Troutnut or support the project for an enhanced experience here.

Blue-Winged Red Quills

This common name refers to only one species. Click its scientific name to learn more.

Mayfly Species Ephemerella needhami

These are very rarely called Blue-Winged Red Quills.

This small and slightly noteworthy mayfly appears during the finest hours of the year. Ernest Schwiebert describes an Ephemerella needhami day in Matching the Hatch:

"It was a wonderul morning, with a sky of indescribable blue and big, clean-looking cumulus clouds, and the water was sparkling and alive. You have seen the water with that lively look; you have also seen it dead and uninviting in a way that dampens the enthusiasm the moment you wade out into the current."

I have not fished a needhami emergence, but the exquisite nymphs show up often (though never abundantly) in my samples.

Male Ephemerella needhami (Little Dark Hendrickson) Mayfly Dun

7 Pictures

Lateral view of a Male Ephemerella needhami (Ephemerellidae) (Little Dark Hendrickson) Mayfly Dun from the West Branch of the Delaware River in New York

See the comments for an interesting discussion of the identification of this dun.

Collected May 31, 2007 from the West Branch of the Delaware River in New York

Added by Troutnut on June 4, 2007

Collected May 31, 2007 from the West Branch of the Delaware River in New York and added by Troutnut on June 4, 2007

Ephemerella needhami (Little Dark Hendrickson) Mayfly Nymph

6 Pictures

Dorsal view of a Ephemerella needhami (Ephemerellidae) (Little Dark Hendrickson) Mayfly Nymph from the Bois Brule River in Wisconsin

I photographed three strange striped Ephemerella nymphs from the same trip on the same river: this one, a brown one, and a very very striped one. I have tentatively put them all in Ephemerella needhami for now.

Collected June 8, 2005 from the Bois Brule River in Wisconsin

Added by Troutnut on May 26, 2006

Collected June 8, 2005 from the Bois Brule River in Wisconsin and added by Troutnut on May 26, 2006

See 7 more specimens...

References

Schwiebert, Ernest G. 1955. Matching the Hatch. MacMillan Publishing Company.