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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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This discussion is about the Delaware River.

Several anglers fish the tail of a famous pool, loomed over by a Catskill mountain.

From the Delaware River, Junction Pool in New York
The Delaware River, Junction Pool in New York
Late-summer wildflowers bloom along a large trout river.

From the Delaware River, Junction Pool in New York
The Delaware River, Junction Pool in New York
Jesse
Jesse's profile picture
Posts: 378
Jesse on Jun 29, 2011June 29th, 2011, 7:33 pm EDT
Any suggestions as to what might be effective on the Delaware right now?
Most of us fish our whole lives..not knowing its not the fish that we are after.
http://www.filingoflyfishing.com
GONZO
Site Editor
"Bear Swamp," PA

Posts: 1681
GONZO on Jun 29, 2011June 29th, 2011, 8:06 pm EDT
Here's a start, Jesse:

Slate Drakes (Isonychia bicolor)
Little Sulphurs/PEDs (Ephemerella d. dorothea)
Summer Blue Quills (Paraleptophlebia spp.)
Light Cahills/Salmon Spinners (Maccaffertium and Stenacron spp.)
Yellow Quills/Pink Ladies (Epeorus vitreus)
Little Yellow Quills (Leucrocuta spp.)
Golden Drakes (Anthopotamus spp.)
Little BWOs (baetids)
Golden Stones (Acroneuria and Paragnetina spp.)
Spotted Sedges (Hydropsyche spp.)
Little Sister Sedges (Cheumatopsyche spp.)
Long-Horned Sedges (leptocerids)

...or you could just throw streamers.
JOHNW
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Chambersburg, PA

Posts: 452
JOHNW on Jun 30, 2011June 30th, 2011, 6:19 pm EDT
What Gonzo said but if you hit high water and have a boat bang the banks with streamers and hold on! I'm always partial to white streamers in lower light for big browns and the Delaware is full of those. If you dont have a boat then it is difficult to cover enough water to reall make the streamers pay.
The Delaware also has potential for almost blanket Isonychia (aka slate drake, white gloved howdy) hatches probably the most intense late summer iso emergence I ever encountered happened on the Mainstem.
JW
"old habits are hard to kill once you have gray in your beard" -Old Red Barn

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