Mayfly Species Ephemera simulans (Brown Drakes)

Well the Brown Drakes are happening up in Bayfield, Douglas and Sawyer County streams now.

I was talking with the Queen of the Brown Drakes - Chloe Manz the other day and she was insisting that the nymphs only emerge in the late evening. I was countering that I was under the impression that they emerge in the early morning hours and sometimes during the mid day hours.

Any acurate info???

Observation on my part has subimagos around during the daylight and taking refuge in the riprian foliage until a return to the water in the very late evening (under the right conditions) as imagos for a mating flight and egg laying.

I would be interested to know if anyone has had any success fishing the emerging nymphs. I have ties up some nice, big soft hackles and am itching to give em a whirl.

By the way....there is a masking hatch up near my home stream of Sulphurs that takes a trump card over the bigger Brown Drake most evenings...last night I mistakenly switched to a Brown Drake spinner after very successfully fishing a Sulphur dun for an hour.

I could hear the fish change the sucking noises as the evening progressed into darkness and spent a unfruitfull 1/2 hour steadily working a couple of very nice fish with the brown drake spent pattern before turning my attention to the evidence...I put the headlamp on the surface and saw that the Sulphur spinners were much more predominant.

I then switched to a more appropriate spent pattern and got a bit of redemption!

Glorious evening none the less and lesson well learned!