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.
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I was not fishing, but happened to be at an unrelated social event on a hill above this tiny creek (which I never even saw) when this stonefly flew by me. I assume it came from there. Some key characteristics are tricky to follow, but process of elimination ultimately led me to Sweltsa borealis. It is reassuringly similar to this specimen posted by Bob Newell years ago. It is also so strikingly similar to this nymph from the same river system that I'm comfortable identifying that nymph from this adult. I was especially pleased with the closeup photo of four mites parasitizing this one.
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Oldredbarn has attached this picture. The message is below.
Oldredbarn on Aug 22, 2010August 22nd, 2010, 6:15 am EDT
It seems that a few folks that have met online, on this site, decided to get out and do some fishing together over this past weekend...You know, walk away from the computer and wet a line. Tony & company have posted some photos on a Trico run and Jonathon (jmd123) and I met on a local small-mouth stream here in Michigan.
I was trying to show Jon one of my "hot-spots" and unfortunately the bugs I thought would be there never showed. It was touching the low 90's when we started around 6:00pm and we both tossed streamers until the sunset and we reached "Spencer's Pool"...We did eventually see a few White Flies but they were thin...Maybe with the heat we should of stayed really late...Maybe it all happened in the middle of the night.
This photo is of Jon and he's holding the largest fish we caught on Friday evening. The nice thing, for me, is that this fish took a dry fly...An Adams to be exact!
We stopped fishing when we reached the head of the pool and regrouped...drank some water and switched flies. We waited for the bugs to show and had decided not to hassle the pool until they got there. Well...This went on for awhile and I said we might as well start and maybe a few fish will be looking up and maybe we could "pound up" a few.
By this time it was fairly dark out, but lo and behold a few fish rose and at least saved Spence any more embarassment!
We had flocks of feeding birds over our heads all evening and they were hitting something so small we couldn't figure out what it was. There were Cedar Waxwings who seemed totally unconcerned with us being there...They flew right up to us and landed just over our heads on a branch. We had a few Bank Swallows and even a Cardinal that almost flew right in to Jon's face...Too bad we weren't fishing for birds, eh!
We had a nice time a stream no matter what...You know a day a stream is better etc, etc, etc.
Jon tossed his Killer Bass Fly in various colors and I had a Holschlag Hackle Fly and a swimming Iso modelled after Mark Libertone's Iso Nymph. We also caught a few Rock Bass along with the few Smallies we caught and Jon caught a Bluegill. I caught a smallie that was so small my streamer was almost as big as he was! What an aggressive, fun, fish right from a young age!
Other "wild-life" spotted...A rare kayak-bikinied-cutie...It's always nice to be able to add this rarity to the bird list...:)
Spence
I was trying to show Jon one of my "hot-spots" and unfortunately the bugs I thought would be there never showed. It was touching the low 90's when we started around 6:00pm and we both tossed streamers until the sunset and we reached "Spencer's Pool"...We did eventually see a few White Flies but they were thin...Maybe with the heat we should of stayed really late...Maybe it all happened in the middle of the night.
This photo is of Jon and he's holding the largest fish we caught on Friday evening. The nice thing, for me, is that this fish took a dry fly...An Adams to be exact!
We stopped fishing when we reached the head of the pool and regrouped...drank some water and switched flies. We waited for the bugs to show and had decided not to hassle the pool until they got there. Well...This went on for awhile and I said we might as well start and maybe a few fish will be looking up and maybe we could "pound up" a few.
By this time it was fairly dark out, but lo and behold a few fish rose and at least saved Spence any more embarassment!
We had flocks of feeding birds over our heads all evening and they were hitting something so small we couldn't figure out what it was. There were Cedar Waxwings who seemed totally unconcerned with us being there...They flew right up to us and landed just over our heads on a branch. We had a few Bank Swallows and even a Cardinal that almost flew right in to Jon's face...Too bad we weren't fishing for birds, eh!
We had a nice time a stream no matter what...You know a day a stream is better etc, etc, etc.
Jon tossed his Killer Bass Fly in various colors and I had a Holschlag Hackle Fly and a swimming Iso modelled after Mark Libertone's Iso Nymph. We also caught a few Rock Bass along with the few Smallies we caught and Jon caught a Bluegill. I caught a smallie that was so small my streamer was almost as big as he was! What an aggressive, fun, fish right from a young age!
Other "wild-life" spotted...A rare kayak-bikinied-cutie...It's always nice to be able to add this rarity to the bird list...:)
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
"Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood
SlateDrake9 on Aug 22, 2010August 22nd, 2010, 7:24 am EDT
Wonder if I can get that print on my waders? :-)
Fishing with bait is like swearing in church.
-- Slate Drake
-- Slate Drake
Oldredbarn on Aug 22, 2010August 22nd, 2010, 8:00 am EDT
B.J.
I will admit that by the time we made it back to the car and I was soaking wet inside my waders and 10lbs lighter I was wishing I'd of put on some swiming trunks as well...I have a leech-o-phobia from watching my little cousins, when I was a child, running screaming from Rose Lake with a few attached to their legs...
On the other hand...The beer that I had on ice in the car tasted so much better when you have "earned" one! We used to play pickup hockey in the summer years ago. The zam driver played on our summer league team so we would take the last hour of ice time and play until he decided he wanted to go home. Afterwards it was out to the parking lot and Molson's on ice...The first two or three evaporates in your hand...Or so it seemed! Never tasted better!
Spence
I will admit that by the time we made it back to the car and I was soaking wet inside my waders and 10lbs lighter I was wishing I'd of put on some swiming trunks as well...I have a leech-o-phobia from watching my little cousins, when I was a child, running screaming from Rose Lake with a few attached to their legs...
On the other hand...The beer that I had on ice in the car tasted so much better when you have "earned" one! We used to play pickup hockey in the summer years ago. The zam driver played on our summer league team so we would take the last hour of ice time and play until he decided he wanted to go home. Afterwards it was out to the parking lot and Molson's on ice...The first two or three evaporates in your hand...Or so it seemed! Never tasted better!
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
"Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood
Jmd123 on Aug 22, 2010August 22nd, 2010, 5:34 pm EDT
Everything Spence has said here was true - it was HOTTER THAN HELL and I don't know how Spence didn't keel over from heat exhaustion in his waders and full vest! As you can see, I am clad in swim trunks and an Orvis Sling Pack (I HIGHLY recommend this piece of gear!!!), and I was STILL sweating my ass off!! I was a very nice patch of water on the [LOCATION NOT DISCLOSED FOR SECURITY REASONS - as in, we had it all to ourselves, except for the odd bikini-clad kayaker which we of course didn't mind, and Spence would like to KEEP IT THAT WAY], full of nice holes, boulders, weed beds, downed logs and trees leaning over/in the stream, etc. Y'all (that comes from 2 1/2 years in Texas) can expect a few more photos from us "smallie nuts" from this, and possibly other, locations in the near future.
All I can say is, THANK YOU, SPENCE, FOR HAVING A FREAKING CAMERA!!! I swear, NO ONE is ever watching, let alone has a camera, when I catch a nice fish! Like the 19 1/2" smallie I pulled out of a lake off my friends' dock last Saturday...Although, I have at least 5 kids and 2 or 3 adults who saw the critter before I let it go, so at least I have WITNESSES!!
Just in case you haven't figured this out already, I must say that Spence is a fly fisherman of considerable knowledge and wisdom. Hey, he put ME on some fish!!
Tackle: Cabelas Three Forks 7 1/2' 3-weight (this is a $50 fly rod!!!), Cabelas Cast Speed Retrieve (CSR - now discontinued) reel, GPX Mastery fly line, 3x tippet, size 12 Adams.
Jonathon
All I can say is, THANK YOU, SPENCE, FOR HAVING A FREAKING CAMERA!!! I swear, NO ONE is ever watching, let alone has a camera, when I catch a nice fish! Like the 19 1/2" smallie I pulled out of a lake off my friends' dock last Saturday...Although, I have at least 5 kids and 2 or 3 adults who saw the critter before I let it go, so at least I have WITNESSES!!
Just in case you haven't figured this out already, I must say that Spence is a fly fisherman of considerable knowledge and wisdom. Hey, he put ME on some fish!!
Tackle: Cabelas Three Forks 7 1/2' 3-weight (this is a $50 fly rod!!!), Cabelas Cast Speed Retrieve (CSR - now discontinued) reel, GPX Mastery fly line, 3x tippet, size 12 Adams.
Jonathon
No matter how big the one you just caught is, there's always a bigger one out there somewhere...
Oldredbarn on Aug 23, 2010August 23rd, 2010, 5:30 am EDT
Just in case you haven't figured this out already, I must say that Spence is a fly fisherman of considerable knowledge and wisdom. Hey, he put ME on some fish!!
Now lets remember that this is the same Spence, on this same site, who just this year alone, lost a float-tube flipper up on Beaver Island, can't find his best streamer box, just the week before got himself so entangled in barbed wire busting brush that he had to destroy a perfectly good net to free himself! A year ago dropped his mag-lite in to the drink only to have the gods look down upon him with pity and let him find it the following week still in working order...
This is a very nice comment from Jon...Follow Spence downstream for sure, anytime on the river is good, but follow him with caution! With each passing year it's more like following Mr. Magoo downstream than Ernie Schwiebert! :)
Spence
On second thought...Maybe you should go first!
"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
"Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood
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