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3. Small Sulphurs

It's been my suspicion for quite some time that a good part of the credit given to dorothea for creating the later, lighter-colored "little sulphur" hatch should probably go to the same species (or species complex) that creates the earlier, larger, darker hatch--E. invaria. Many anglers who fish the small suphurs on valley limestone streams in my home state believe (or have been led to believe) that they are fishing the dorothea hatch. Close inspection of the mayfly that causes the activity usually doesn't bear that out. Most of the true dorothea hatches seem to come from mountainous areas where the streams are faster and have rockier bottoms.

All of the specimens in this section are from PA, and this seems to provide a good case in point. This specimen and the nymph (#766) are good examples of dorothea, and they both came from sections of the Brodheads in the Poconos. The other specimens came from big limestoners and appear to be invaria. Notice that all of the dun and spinner specimens, except for this one, have banded tails (dark markings at the segments). As far as I know, this is not characteristic of the Eastern version of dorothea (E. dorothea dorothea), but it is a trait of invaria.

Thanks. That makes a lot of sense.

We have these little guys in our spring creeks here in Missouri. They are usually about a size 24. Duns are White/opaque in color with the big orange eyes. The hatch is in the evening from May to October with the prime months June to September. A challenging fly to fish with precise presentations necessary.

Welcome to the forum, Tightline.

While anything is possible, your tiny flies are probably in one of the baetid genera of Little Sulfur Quills. True PMD's are much larger (14 to 18). If you look closely, you may notice they only have two tails and are either lacking hind wings or they are virtually impossible to make out with eyes older than 35. ;)