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 Skwala nymph still has a couple months left to go before hatching, but it's still a good representative of its species, which was extremely abundant in my sample for a stonefly of this size. It's obvious why the Yakima is known for its Skwala hatch.
Al514 on Sep 17, 2007September 17th, 2007, 2:29 pm EDT
What is the biggest mayfly species in the North East? I was at a 7 to 8 acre pond tonight that holds some nice trout, and I swear I saw some spinners about size 8 or 6! I had to do a double-take to make sure it was a mayfly! I didnt have my camera, so no pictures but Ill try and get some soon. It looked dark brown and around 2, possibly 3 inches in length.
Taxon on Sep 17, 2007September 17th, 2007, 3:45 pm EDT
There are only three mayfly genera with really large mayflies, which I would describe as being in excess of 1" in length, as measured from the front of head to end of abdomen, exclusive of tails.
These are Ephemera, Hexagenia, and Litobrancha, all burrowers in family Ephemeridae. Of those three genera, only Hexagenia are found in ponds.
Troutnut on Sep 17, 2007September 17th, 2007, 7:17 pm EDT
At this time of year, it was probably a different species of Hex, like Hexagenia atrocaudata. Check out the pics of that one on this site and see if they match a little closer still.
Jason Neuswanger, Ph.D.
Troutnut and salmonid ecologist