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3. ID Needed, Please

Found this in a porch light at my house this afternoon. I do not live close to 'good' trout water, but i do have a very small creek (more of a trickle) on my property and live .5 miles from a state stocked stream that gets very low and warm in the summer. I live in SE Pa about a 20 min drive to Vally Forge national park thanks for any info! Im 90% sure it originally had 3 tails

Sean

Ephemerella invaria is my best guess if it had three tails.

Disclaimer: Photo ID of bugs is very difficult for me! :) I am anxiously awaiting word from the real bug gurus on this site. Nevertheless I hope this helps.

John

Definitely an ephemerellid missing its terminal filament and I agree it sure looks like invaria. Unassociated females of this family are difficult to identify to genus let alone species when they are this size and coloration because there are so many possibilities. It probably is a variation of Ephemerella invaria as they are very common, or possibly even one of the lighter species of Eurylophella. They both can be this general coloration and both have pale legs and speckled tails. The former is supported by the pale yellow pigmentation in the stigmatic region of the forewings and what appears to be a shorter ninth abdominal segment in some of the photos while the latter possibility is supported by the somewhat wider head that is bright yellow dorsally and what appears to be a longer ninth seg. in some of the photos. E. invaria usually hatches later than this, but who knows? This season seems to be upside-down regarding emergence timing.

Kurt I've seen E. invaria as early as the first week of may in SE PA. I'm not saying that's what this one is for sure and on the other hand I get quite a few Eurylophella from what you would call marginal trout waters and even warm water streams.

Typically on the Delaware watershed E. invaria starts to emerge, in abundance, the third week or April. However this year the waters were seasonably low and much warmer than is normal and I saw blanket emergences on April 07 and 09 and a good emergence on 08. I'm wondering if Crepuscular meant to type "as early as the first week of APRIL in SE PA". I live in York, PA which is pretty much considerd SE PA and I have seen E. invaria on the lower Yellow Breeches, in abundance, as early as the first week in April.

I'm in a bit of a panic here...Tony called the other night and said he was tying sulphers since the Hennies were done in PA...I have sat here for quite some time trying to talk myself out of what I think I see here...It is only late April! Please someone tell me I'm wrong...That this is somehow a hoax. :) If this is indeed invaria, I may have to re-think which boxes I'm taking north this weekend for our opening day...I received a report that maybe things have slowed a bit with the cooling up in Grayling...It would not be the opener here in Michigan if the Hendricksons are done.

I told Tony that he and I are both very lucky to have fly fishing and tying in our lives, especially this spring, since both our hockey teams are taking the rest of this spring off...leaving us to tie, fish, and occasionally cry in our beers. :( So if you happen upon a fellow, either on a PA stream or the old Au Sable and he's sitting on the bank with his head in his hands...Give the man some space. Neither one of us are used to our boys heading home in the first round...OUCH!

Spence

Well Spence with the weather we are getting right now can only help us. we need something to slow things down a bit. Seeing as I'm a Habs fan, I'm pretty used to them not being involved at this point...oh long gone are the days of Larry Robinson scoring from the point...anyway I wouldn't be surprised to start seeing sulphurs here any day. But the fishing has been fantastic.

Eric & Matt-

Thanks for clarifying the timing - I suspected as much.

Spence -

It sounds like this year you better be ready for anything. Ah! the groans that vest is gonna cause...:)

I wrote;

"Typically on the Delaware watershed E. invaria starts to emerge, in abundance, the third week or April. However this year the waters were seasonably low and much warmer than is normal and I saw blanket emergences on April 07 and 09 and a good emergence on 08. I'm wondering if Crepuscular meant to type "as early as the first week of APRIL in SE PA". I live in York, PA which is pretty much considerd SE PA and I have seen E. invaria on the lower Yellow Breeches, in abundance, as early as the first week in April."

Eric noticed my error and it should have said "Typically on the Delaware watershed E. SUBVARIA starts to emerge, in abundance, the third week or April."

Not "done" completely, but on the streams where I typically fish,the blanket hatches that Matt describes are pretty much over.
There are a few secret spots where they are still around, and these are places with water temps that haven't been as affected by the mild winter.
I believe that there will still be some throughout the normal hatch dates, but not as many.
And, yes, like the E. subvaria, the E. invaria are starting early, too.

When Bruce and I head north later this week, I will have my quill Gordons, blue quills, red quills, Hendricksons, sulfurs, March browns, bwo (all sizes), midges, light and dark grannoms, yellow Sallies and yes, even some green drakes with me.
A far cry from the usual one box of flies I typically carry on this annual trip.
We'll see...

What ever we run in to astream is a damn sight better than hanging around the house here! :) I just want to wish everyone of you TroutNutters tight lines and a wonderful upcoming fishing season...I'm stoaked! I'm trying to tone down my normal "buck-fever" this time of year...Opening day here in Michigan is Saturday and its going to be crisp out and I will be there with my smile on! :)

I'll find a riser even if I have to lean down and place my hand under his butter colored belly and help him to the surface! :)

If you hear a sonic boom Thursday afternoon sometime, no its not our broke government testing another wasted trillion dollar super-sonic ocean crashing transport, its just Spence letting out a war-cry as he crosses the Crawford County line just south of Grayling!

Saturday evening will be the celebration of the Angler's of the Au Sable's 25th anniversary...This weekend will be more social than actual fishing, but I'll wet the waders and be test driving a Winston BIIIx 4wt...Oh yeah! Tony has already warned me to tread lightly or my wallet will be lighter...A friend of my wife said to her that if you thought seriously about retiring before you retired you were already retired...Tony...Today my wife said, "If you have already thought about this rod, you have already bought it!" :)

Good luck oh brothers of the angle...

Spence

Brookyman-

You might want to take a closer look at the hind wing in this blowup of the 3rd photo by Mahones41:



I suspect you will realize that it doesn't resemble a Baetis hind wing, either in shape, or in size. Incidentally, Baetis vagans has been re-classified as Baetis tricaudatus for many years.

Best regards,

Things are so early this year! We've been looking at late spring and early summer stuff.