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.

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Pycnopsyche guttifera (Great Autumn Brown Sedge) Caddisfly Larva Pycnopsyche guttifera (Great Autumn Brown Sedge) Caddisfly Larva

Dorsal view of a Pycnopsyche guttifera (Limnephilidae) (Great Autumn Brown Sedge) Caddisfly Larva from the Yakima River in Washington

This specimen appears to be of the same species as this one collected in the same spot two months earlier. The identification of both is tentative. This one suffered some physical damage before being photographed, too, so the colors aren't totally natural. I was mostly photographing it to test out some new camera setting idea, which worked really well for a couple of closeups.

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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.

Olives

Martinlf

Moderator
Palmyra PA

Posts: 3047

Martinlf on Mar 14, 2021March 14th, 2021, 9:17 am EDT

We're seeing blue wing olives on local spring creeks, but on at least one the hatch has been sporadic so far. The first day I saw them there the weather was colder, in the 40's, and cloudy. Fishing was pretty good that day, despite a somewhat sparse and brief hatch. Then the weather brightened and got warmer, climbing into the 50's, 60, and finally 70's. Fishing was poor for everyone I talked with on those days, and folks said that like me, they didn't see many olives. It didn't help (in terms of the fishing) that it also got breezy. Some writers claim olives hatch equally on warm bright days and on cooler dreary days, or that even more hatch on sunny days everything else being equal. These folks say they just get off the water faster on bright warm days, so the fishing isn't as good, but my experience is that more olives (the early baetids anyway) actually hatch in cooler, darker, and especially drizzly or rainy weather. Can anyone shed some light on this topic?

"He spread them a yard and a half. 'And every one that got away is this big.'"

--Fred Chappell

Wiflyfisher

Wisconsin

Posts: 622

Wiflyfisher on Mar 14, 2021March 14th, 2021, 9:37 am EDT

Louis, I am with you on this subject. The best BWO hatches I have experienced have been in the Fall on the Madison River. The weather is always cold and crappy when the olives start to really pop.

John S.
https://WiFlyFisher.com