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 wild-looking little thing completely puzzled me. At first I was thinking beetle or month larva, until I got a look at the pictures on the computer screen. I made a couple of incorrect guesses before entomologist Greg Courtney pointed me in the right direction with Psychodidae. He suggested a possible genus of Thornburghiella, but could not rule out some other members of the tribe Pericomini.
Troutnut on Jan 12, 2021January 12th, 2021, 2:26 pm EST
This looks to me like an oblique view of a spent mayfly spinner with its wings stuck to the water, possibly Callibaetis as there seems to be a bit of a dark mottling near the front of the wings, but it's hard to be sure in this picture. Callibaetis would certainly make sense for high lakes.
Jason Neuswanger, Ph.D.
Troutnut and salmonid ecologist