Header image
Enter a name
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.
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.

Oldredbarn has attached these 3 pictures. The message is below.
You ever heard the saying, "I wish I was a fly on the wall"? Well I was. :)
Oh...and Ed Engle...:)
The big fish these five guys have hassled is incredible...That's Alex squat down in front talking with AK...Alex is a guide friend of mine I have known since he was a young man from up on the Au Sable...He's tan because he is fresh from guiding in Arkansas...He sent me pics of 11lb Browns caught at midnight on white bellied-mice patterns...Back there, talking with Ed Engle, is another friend Charlie...He is a wonderful tier and night fisherman second to none...
Oldredbarn
Oldredbarn's profile picture
Novi, MI

Posts: 2600
Oldredbarn on Mar 10, 2013March 10th, 2013, 6:08 pm EDT
I got to shadow AK Best this past weekend at the Midwest Fly Fishing Show...A show the Michigan Fly Fishing Club puts on. Bob Clouser sat down with us and the two friends got to talking...Guess what...Fishing...My head is still spinning! :)

I had a wonderful time.
"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
Lastchance
Portage, PA

Posts: 437
Lastchance on Mar 10, 2013March 10th, 2013, 6:16 pm EDT
Good for you. I've met both of them at the show in Somerset, N.J. and they are both very engaging. A.K. gave me a March Brown Nymph he tied during a demonstration. I also attended one of his presentations. He was a very down to earth, humble guy.
Bruce
PaulRoberts
PaulRoberts's profile picture
Colorado

Posts: 1776
PaulRoberts on Mar 11, 2013March 11th, 2013, 8:35 am EDT
Ed Engle and AK live somewhere near me, along with Gierach, but I've yet to meet them. Then again it would have to be onstream and none of us would do more than skulk away mumbling something about "elbow room".
Jmd123
Jmd123's profile picture
Oscoda, MI

Posts: 2474
Jmd123 on Mar 11, 2013March 11th, 2013, 8:43 am EDT
Only a month and a half to go Spence, not counting extended-season waters...are you tying like a madman? Looks like a fun show! Always fun to be with some of the big names in a hobby, like when I got to meet some famous amateurs and professional telescope/eyepiece makers at the Texas Star Party many years ago...

Got your first trip planned to the Au Sable Holy Waters yet? I'm thinking about the Rifle and maybe even some steelhead fishing on the lower Au Sable behind my place. It's warm and raining right now, melting the snow and raising the rivers...Spring is coming!

Jonathon
No matter how big the one you just caught is, there's always a bigger one out there somewhere...
Oldredbarn
Oldredbarn's profile picture
Novi, MI

Posts: 2600
Oldredbarn on Mar 11, 2013March 11th, 2013, 1:07 pm EDT
Ed Engle and AK live somewhere near me, along with Gierach, but I've yet to meet them. Then again it would have to be onstream and none of us would do more than skulk away mumbling something about "elbow room".


Paul...You know that would be true! :) Everyone is warm and cozy at the show, around the vice, or at the end of the bar...but if I see you coming I'll more than likely duck in to the woods...That is if I don't know its you, sir.

Jonathon...Yes & yes. :) I have two weeks in Montana in August to boot...I'm pouring cold water on the vice.

Actually these guys are wonderful and share quite a bit...very laid back guys...AK had a wonderful career as a music instructor and a real life outside of the one we inhabit...He was really successful again with the fly tying books etc. One of these days I may discuss his fishing with Cal Gates, who was also a high school music teacher. A K lived up in Alpena for several years and the two music instrutors fished together then on the Au Sable.

Good stuff! You put us "old-school" guys together and it can get pretty deep. :)

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

Quick Reply

Related Discussions

Topic
Replies
Last Reply
17
Aug 24, 2007
by JOHNW
12
Aug 17, 2007
by Martinlf
9
Nov 21, 2017
by Jmd123
2
Feb 2, 2007
by Martinlf
9
Jan 27, 2014
by Gus
Troutnut.com is copyright © 2004-2024 (email Jason). privacy policy