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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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Report at a Glance

General RegionLancaster County, PA
Specific LocationOff of Rte 441
Dates FishedMay 05
Time of Day12:30 - 4:30

Details and Discussion

Wbranch
Wbranch's profile picture
York & Starlight PA

Posts: 2635
Wbranch on May 6, 2011May 6th, 2011, 8:11 pm EDT
Parked at the lower end near the concrete bridge and fished my way upstream to about 50 yards below the quarry. Fished from 12:30 - 4:30. Saw good numbers of Ep. invaria but not a single rise, also saw some caddis. Landed a dozen, six pretty and colorful rainbows and six browns of which four looked wild. Two of them had to be stream born as they were only 4" - 5" long. Caught all the fish on either a #12 BH Green Weenie or a #16 copper Copper John with a poxy wing case. Weather was quite windy and a little chilly. Virtualy all the fish were caught in the riffly water - no hits or fish in the slow water. Lots of wood in the water and snags on underwater branches happen frequently. All the rainbows were between 10" and 12", fun afternoon but stream is still best fished with as little wading as possible to keep downstream silting to a minimum.
Catskill fly fisher for fifty-five years.
Martinlf
Martinlf's profile picture
Moderator
Palmyra PA

Posts: 3047
Martinlf on May 8, 2011May 8th, 2011, 5:54 pm EDT
Some of the rainbows in that stream are wild also. I haven't fished it much in recent years, but was out last fall teaching a colleague to fish and we caught several wild bows as well as some wild browns. Plenty of stocked fish in Donegal, but some reproduction too!
"He spread them a yard and a half. 'And every one that got away is this big.'"

--Fred Chappell
Wbranch
Wbranch's profile picture
York & Starlight PA

Posts: 2635
Wbranch on May 8, 2011May 8th, 2011, 6:32 pm EDT
The rainbows didn't look like any PFBC rainbows I've ever caught. I wish I'd taken a picture of one of them to post. They all appeared to be females as they had small mouths but they were only 10" - 11" anyway so maybe the mouth structure is the same for both sexes at that size. The red stipe was very evident. It is bright red and about 3/4" wide. Is Donegal stocked with any coop fish or private hatchery fish? That might explain the appearance of these rainbows.

BTW I see Louis had a letter to the eidtor published in the most recent issue of FFM.

Here is a picture of a rainbow with the colors of the Donegal fish the only difference is this fish is 20".

Catskill fly fisher for fifty-five years.

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