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 specimen appears to be of the same species as this one collected in the same spot two months earlier. The identification of both is tentative. This one suffered some physical damage before being photographed, too, so the colors aren't totally natural. I was mostly photographing it to test out some new camera setting idea, which worked really well for a couple of closeups.
I happened to be in the right place at the right time for my first Apple Caddis emergence a week or so ago, and caught fish on a Tulpehocken Creek Outfitter's emerger pattern that I tied years ago, but have never used before. It's something like a CDC mayfly emerger, tied on a scud hook, with a puff of CDC at the head to float the body, which remain subsurface. I also had tied in a few long Wood Duck barbules at the throat for legs. This experience led me to wonder if a similar fly might work for selective fish when dark Grannoms emerge. All day long during the Grannom hatch, I typically fish the CDC adult pattern that I posted a while back, and do OK, but last week the fish I was fishing over would have nothing to do with an Apple Caddis CDC adult during the emergence--though they took it during egg laying on flat water in the evening. Do the Grannoms and Apple Caddis have similar emergence behavior? I realize that a number of variables may have been at play. The fish I was fising over during the Apple Caddis emergence are notoriously picky, and they were feeding in a shallow riffle. The fish I target for dark Grannoms are in a different river and they are generally less picky, and see fewer flies. Also, I haven't fished over them for dark Grannoms in the same water type, usually fishing this hatch in deeper riffles and runs--and I may not have hit a concentrated emergence yet. Finally, does anyone know a good wet fly for the Apple Caddis? I'm assuming the pupa look enough like the adults that an apple green abdomen with a tan thorax and light hen hackle would work, but I'd be happy to see a recipe for a proven pattern. And any thoughts on the general topic would be welcome.
"He spread them a yard and a half. 'And every one that got away is this big.'"