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.
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.
This species is perhaps better known by anglers under its former scientific name, Acroneuria pacifica. On many rivers they share the same hatching cycle with the famous Pteronarcys californica (Salmonfly) that often overshadows them. Both can be found on the water at the same time in tremendous numbers. Anglers can become so mesmerized by the size and legend of the famous Salmonflies that they fail to pay attention to the smaller and more somber Perlidae. Rest assured the trout don't make that mistake. It pays to keep an eye out for which species the fish are most interested in on a particular stretch or run. Many boulders streamside can be covered with the empty husks of both species intermixed. See the Perlidae Hatch Page for more information.
Older anglers with an extensive background fishing in the Rockies often refer to them as Brown Willowflies or simply "Willows". Historically, Golden Stonefly was a name used on the West Coast to describe members of the family Perlidae (it seems everything from California was gold back then). While in the Rockies, Willow fly was the common name settlers and ranchers used. Over time, the most prominent species on the coast, Calineuria californica became universally accepted in angling literature as the Golden Stone, while Hesperoperla pacifica as the most prominent species in the Rockies was usually listed as Brown Willowfly. In 1955 in Matching the Hatch, Ernest Schwiebert wrote that this species is partially responsible for the "willowfly" hatches of the West, and he described some Colorado mating flights as "really a spectacle to see." Even late into the '80's popular angler entomologies such as Rick Hafele's "Western Hatches" made this distinction. The name Willowfly has largely been dropped from the lexicon of the latest generation of anglers, at least when referring to this species. In an interesting twist of irony, it is Hesperoperla pacifica that now bears the scientific common name Golden Stonefly - not Calineuria californica.
The nymphs have prominent anal gills making them easy to tell apart from Calineuria. They are also often less dramatically marked and have an hour glass or similar shaped mark running vertically on the front of their heads. The more somber appearance holds true for the adults as well. The male adults of Calineuria and Hesperoperla are easier to tell apart by looking at their hammers. Both are quadrangular but Hesperoperla is wider than long.
Where & when
Time of year : Late Spring and Early Summer
It is important in the West.
In 44 records from GBIF, adults of this species have mostly been collected during July (34%), June (25%), May (20%), and April (9%).
In 16 records from GBIF, this species has been collected at elevations ranging from 1969 to 8632 ft, with an average (median) of 6339 ft.
My blurry photo at first makes it look like there might be a distinct notch in the subgenital plate of this specimen, but that's not the case -- just a poor photo. That's important to the ID.
I collected this specimen as a nymph and had it in line to be photographed, but it emerged inside my holding container before I got the chance. However, I was able to get some interesting photos of the very freshly-emerged adult that really demonstrate how strikingly colors can change within a few short hours after emergence. The before-and-after pictures are combined here under a single specimen since they portray the same individual at different times within the same stage.
This monster started to feed within a few minutes of sharing the inspection tray with its victims. This nymph is a voracious predator of small invertebrates and has even been noted for feeding on small fish and salmonid alevins. The niche it fills in fast water is equivalent to the Dragonfly nymphs that inhabit slower water.
Hesperoperla pacifica nymphs are easily distinguished from other western perlids by the presence of anal gills (obfuscated by algae in the tray) in combination with an hour glass shaped pale mark on the front of their heads.
Start a Discussion ofHesperoperla pacifica
References
Schwiebert, Ernest G. 1955. Matching the Hatch. MacMillan Publishing Company.
Swisher, Doug and Carl Richards. 2000. Selective Trout. The Lyons Press.
Described by Banks, N. (1900) New genera and species of Nearctic Neuropteroid Insects. Transactions of the American Entomological Society 26, 239–259. [1899]