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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.

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.
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.
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Oldredbarn
Oldredbarn's profile picture
Novi, MI

Posts: 2600
Oldredbarn on Jan 30, 2012January 30th, 2012, 6:07 pm EST
http://www.ausableanglers.org/files/members/RIVERWATCH/RIVERWATCH34.pdf

Thanks Tony!

This link is to May 2000 issue of the Angler's of the Au Sables "Riverwatch" #34...Read Ed McGlinn's obit and some pics of Chauncey in this issue.


Spence
"Even when my best efforts fail it's a satisfying challenge, and that, after all, is the essence of fly fishing." -Chauncy Lively

"Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood
Entoman
Entoman's profile picture
Northern CA & ID

Posts: 2604
Entoman on Jan 30, 2012January 30th, 2012, 7:48 pm EST
Jere -

That makes a lot of sense. Another popular color often labeled as "rust" is more accurately a shade of cinnamon. as seen in many popular versions marketed. Besides males, I wonder if this comes from the overall look (dorsal influence) of some regional females in the hand?

I've noticed there seems to be three color categories of Pale Morning Duns seen in the West and I suspect this holds for E. d. dorothea in the East as well:

1. creamy yellow
2. creamy yellow shaded with olive to varying degrees.
3. creamy yellow shaded with orange to varying degrees.

It sounds like the ones Lawson is referring to are #1. On a lot of the rivers I fish, the duns are darker varieties of 2 or 3 above, almost appearing creamy orange or light green. Their spinners are amber and olive. The most common I run into though are creamy yellow with a hint of orange giving them the 'sulfur' look. The females for those are a pale amber.
"It's not that I find fishing so important, it's just that I find all other endeavors of Man equally unimportant... And not nearly as much fun!" Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman
Entoman
Entoman's profile picture
Northern CA & ID

Posts: 2604
Entoman on Jan 30, 2012January 30th, 2012, 8:14 pm EST
Tony & Spence -

Thanks...

Chauncey was and remains an inspiration. It was nice to see a picture of him again. They're not discussed much anymore, but I'm inspired to revisit his terrestrial styles using the hair techniques that have been supplanted by rubber & plastic. A lot has been lost with that trade-off, I think...
"It's not that I find fishing so important, it's just that I find all other endeavors of Man equally unimportant... And not nearly as much fun!" Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman
Doublespey
Posts: 61
Doublespey on Jan 31, 2012January 31st, 2012, 3:57 am EST
Entoman.. I think!.. and that is always dangerous, that Lawson said the pale yellow color of the females is influenced by the eggs that were in her abdomen.
Entoman
Entoman's profile picture
Northern CA & ID

Posts: 2604
Entoman on Feb 1, 2012February 1st, 2012, 12:21 am EST
Entoman.. I think!.. and that is always dangerous...

Ha! If that's the case, I hope we expose ourselves to danger all the time here, Jere!:)

As to color influence on the abdomen from eggs, that's what I've always assumed as well. If I were to state a general rule, it's that the female spinners are a slightly darker shade of the duns. I agree with your premise though. Save the brown ones for baetids, leptophlebiids and heptageniids (unless you find males on the water on very rare occasions). But, you know what they say about general rules... :)
"It's not that I find fishing so important, it's just that I find all other endeavors of Man equally unimportant... And not nearly as much fun!" Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman

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