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.

Stream photos

Featured on the forum

Re: Trico emergers
In the Mayfly Genus Tricorythodes by Bwoklink (Martinlf replied)

Re: Trico Tips
In the Mayfly Genus Tricorythodes by Martinlf

Re: UV spectrum and trout
In General Discussion by Martinlf

Re: closing the gender gap in flyfishing
In General Discussion by Konchu (Smallflyguy replied)

Re: Fishing Kupa River, Slovenia
In Fishing Reports by Slocum (Fish1 replied)

Zapada cinctipes (Tiny Winter Black) Stonefly Nymph Zapada cinctipes (Tiny Winter Black) Stonefly Nymph

Dorsal view of a Zapada cinctipes (Nemouridae) (Tiny Winter Black) Stonefly Nymph from the Yakima River in Washington

Nymphs of this species were fairly common in late-winter kick net samples from the upper Yakima River. Although I could not find a key to species of Zapada nymphs, a revision of the Nemouridae family by Baumann (1975) includes the following helpful sentence: "2 cervical gills on each side of midline, 1 arising inside and 1 outside of lateral cervical sclerites, usually single and elongate, sometimes constricted but with 3 or 4 branches arising beyond gill base in Zapada cinctipes." This specimen clearly has the branches and is within the range of that species.

13 Recently Added Photos

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.

Troutnut is a project started in 2003 by salmonid ecologist Jason "Troutnut" Neuswanger to help anglers and fly tyers unabashedly embrace the entomological side of the sport. Learn more about Troutnut or support the project for an enhanced experience here.

18-inch Hex hatch smallmouth!

Jmd123 has attached these 2 pictures. The message is below.

Jmd123

Oscoda, MI

Posts: 2474

Jmd123 on Jul 1, 2011July 1st, 2011, 8:18 pm EDT

Rather than driving up to the trout waters of the Au Sable and fighting for a parking space and a piece of river to fish, I decided to do the Hex hatch on Cooke Dam Pond by kayak, where I had some luck on the smallies a few weeks ago on dry flies in the evening. I got there about 8:00 p.m. and it was darned quiet for the next two hours, very few insects on the water and very few rises. I thought, man, I bet they're just waiting for...and sure enough, just when it started to get dark, here comes a great big mayfly crash-landing on the water. YEE-HAW, here we go!! Within minutes there were dozens of flies floating all around me and fish started rising everywhere. I only managed to catch one - another popped my blood knot and relieved me of both fly and tippet - but he was a fat 18-incher! It took at least 10 minutes to wear him out enough to get the net under him. Geez, this was probably my first Hex hatch fishing in 20 or more years!! And like my previous experiences, the mosquitos were at least as thick as the mayflies...

I will be back there again in a few days once the tourists thin out! Got five brookies on [REDACTED] Pond last night too from the kayak - two 6-inchers and one each of 8", 9", and 10", this time all on dry flies, first four on a #12 Adams and the last on a #10 Royal Wulff.

SUMMER IS HERE!!!

Jonathon

No matter how big the one you just caught is, there's always a bigger one out there somewhere...

Troutnut

Administrator
Bellevue, WA

Posts: 2758

Troutnut on Jul 1, 2011July 1st, 2011, 10:54 pm EDT

Looks like a lot of fun!

Jason Neuswanger, Ph.D.
Troutnut and salmonid ecologist

Oldredbarn

Novi, MI

Posts: 2600

Oldredbarn on Jul 2, 2011July 2nd, 2011, 8:02 am EDT

Love that towel Jonathon! :)

Nice fish there fella!

I have a picture I'm trying to figure out a way to get to you. It's from 1910 and shows the rapids there that Cooke Dam impounded...Before they built the dam...The number of "rapids" that have been changed in this state due to dam building is incredible. Who knows what the effects were from the loss of those areas.

The river looked serious in this photo from back then...

Spence

I'll send it to you via your regular email address.

"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

Jmd123

Oscoda, MI

Posts: 2474

Jmd123 on Jul 2, 2011July 2nd, 2011, 9:02 am EDT

Hey Spence, one thing those dams did to the Au Sable was to eliminate the sturgeon run that used to occur there. They probably also sounded the final death knell for the Michigan grayling. Really too bad, I would love to have had those two fisheries as there are plenty of other smallmouth waters throughout the state (and they were most likely there anyway before the dams), and very few sturgeon and no grayling left anywhere in Michigan. And who knows what other fish runs or native populations were affected? If someone were to invent a time machine...Well, you just have to enjoy what's there now and hope nobody else comes along with some grand scheme to screw it all up again...

BTW, the towel served two purposes: 1) keep me a bit drier from all of the water dripping off my kayak paddle and 2) keep the damned mosquitos, deer flies, and stable flies off my legs!!! (Yeah, it is rather colorful - it's a beach towel...) Our substantial rainfalls of last week seem to have reinvigorated all of the bloodsuckers...Maybe it's time to try one of those clip-on insect repellers!

Jonathon

No matter how big the one you just caught is, there's always a bigger one out there somewhere...