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.
I don't have a photo, but fishing a central PA stream yesterday I encountered a hatch of size 20 olives late afternoon into early evening. Would anyone out there hazard a guess as to the species given the time of day and time of year?
"He spread them a yard and a half. 'And every one that got away is this big.'"
My guess would be Acentrella turbida (formerly classified as Pseudocloeon carolina among others), and an early-May late-afternoon/evening emerger, which would be of the size you describe.
I agree. At least around here, the Acentrella have been thick this spring. The other possibility are some Plauditus spp. These also were included in Pseudocloeon at one time. The biggest visual difference between the two is the color of the abdomen: brown in Acentrella and whitish in Plauditus. The nymphs look alot a like, too: they both are two-tailed minnow-like forms, but the plauditus might have a stripe in the middle of the body and tails.