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.

A beautiful braided reach of the Sag River, with the Philip Smith Mountains in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in the background.

From the Sagavanirktok River in Alaska

Stream photos

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

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

It's only barely visible in one of my pictures, but I confirmed under the microscope that this one has a prosternal horn and the antennae are mid-way between the eyes and front of the head capsule.

I'm calling this one Pycnopsyche, but it's a bit perplexing. It seems to key definitively to at least Couplet 8 of the Key to Genera of Limnephilidae Larvae. That narrows it down to three genera, and the case seems wrong for the other two. The case looks right for Pycnopsyche, and it fits one of the key characteristics: "Abdominal sternum II without chloride epithelium and abdominal segment IX with only single seta on each side of dorsal sclerite." However, the characteristic "metanotal sa1 sclerites not fused, although often contiguous" does not seem to fit well. Those sclerites sure look fused to me, although I can make out a thin groove in the touching halves in the anterior half under the microscope. Perhaps this is a regional variation.

The only species of Pycnopsyche documented in Washington state is Pycnopsyche guttifera, and the colors and markings around the head of this specimen seem to match very well a specimen of that species from Massachusetts on Bugguide. So I am placing it in that species for now.

Whatever species this is, I photographed another specimen of seemingly the same species from the same spot a couple months later.

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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.

Trout - 9, Jamie - 0

Jjlyon01
SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse

Posts: 71

Jjlyon01 on Aug 19, 2008August 19th, 2008, 2:45 pm EDT

My family and I took our trip to Pennsylvania these past few days and my father and I were fortunate enough to fish some of the streams in Elk County. We knew that it would probably be slow fishing since the water would be really warm but we had to try it. The first day here we found ourselves on the main stem of the Clarion River in the special regs area. We fished all day (9 hours) and I only managed a small brownie. The next day we traveled to a small stream and fished for about four hours and I was able to pull 2 nice rainbows (14 and 12) from a small pool on a large wooley bugger. We then drove up to the East Branch of the Clarion River just under the dam. In these tail waters we found a nice riffly area and a beautiful pool (not too mention 52 degree water that does not feel too good in leaky waders after being in Texas all summer). My dad caught a 6 inch brookie out of the riffle on his first cast as I found my way down to the pool below the riffle. I had a 2 fly rig with 2 hare's ears size 18s on 6x tippet and split shot to get it down. A few casts later I was hooked up with a nice sized fish who proceeded to jump and snap my tippet like it was a spiders web. Too bad the 6x tippet was the largest I had because he proceeded to do this 3 more times that night and 5 more the tonight. It would be hard to imagine the same fish playing this game with me that many times but if he is he now has a mouth full of piercings.

"I now walk into the wild"

Shawnny3
Moderator
Pleasant Gap, PA

Posts: 1197

Shawnny3 on Aug 20, 2008August 20th, 2008, 2:25 am EDT

Nice story, Jamie.

-Shawn

Jewelry-Quality Artistic Salmon Flies, by Shawn Davis
www.davisflydesigns.com

Wbranch

York & Starlight PA

Posts: 2635

Wbranch on Aug 27, 2008August 27th, 2008, 6:38 pm EDT

Sounds kind of fishy to me.

Catskill fly fisher for fifty-five years.

Jjlyon01
SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse

Posts: 71

Jjlyon01 on Aug 28, 2008August 28th, 2008, 4:46 pm EDT

I think the tippet i was using was old. I ended up tossing it when I got home in frustration

"I now walk into the wild"

Flyfisher06
argyle ny near saratoga

Posts: 48

Flyfisher06 on Sep 1, 2008September 1st, 2008, 12:03 am EDT

Wbranch what part sounds fishy was it how easily the tippet snapped if that is what you dont believe the pool was only about 15 feet across and filled with very large boulders so every take the fish kept rubbing the tippet on the jagged rocks

IF I am not flyfishing or bird hunting I must be doing something bad like working !!

Wbranch

York & Starlight PA

Posts: 2635

Wbranch on Sep 29, 2008September 29th, 2008, 8:58 pm EDT

"since the water would be really warm but we had to try it."

Why would any fly fisher fish if they knew thw water would really be warm?

Flyfisher06 - Why would someone continue to use "old" tippet and break off flies in a trout's mouth?

Catskill fly fisher for fifty-five years.