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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.

Lateral view of a Male Baetidae (Blue-Winged Olive) Mayfly Dun from Mystery Creek #308 in Washington
This dun emerged from a mature nymph on my desk. Unfortunately its wings didn't perfectly dry out.
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.

Levwood has attached this picture to aid in identification. The message is below.
Levwood
Grosse Pte. Michigan

Posts: 11
Levwood on Jun 16, 2013June 16th, 2013, 2:53 pm EDT
This stonefly blundered into me on the South Branch, AuSable River near Grayling, Michigan last week. I call it a big, black stonefly. Some of you may call it a black Plecoptera. Can someone give me a positive id on this guy?
Lev
Oldredbarn
Oldredbarn's profile picture
Novi, MI

Posts: 2600
Oldredbarn on Jun 16, 2013June 16th, 2013, 5:22 pm EDT
I want to say Pteronarcys dorsata...but...What color was it? Were there orange highlights on this bug or maybe yellow? These are our largest stoneflies here in Michigan...

They are huge...38-60mm...The shield like covering over the "pronotal disk" is characteristic...Thank you Ann Miller! :)

I have one posted from a few years back resting on a blade of grass. The shucks at seen at streamside on twigs etc sticking out of the water. Sometimes two or three on top of each other...They usually emerge in the middle of the night.

Spence

http://www.troutnut.com/topic/3278/Au-Sable-river-Michigan-06-25-2011
"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
TNEAL
GRAYLING. MICHIGAN

Posts: 278
TNEAL on Jun 17, 2013June 17th, 2013, 3:44 am EDT
Hence the success of the Houghton Lake Special.... the giant dry fly with deer hair down wing....




Tight lines, Tim
Levwood
Grosse Pte. Michigan

Posts: 11
Levwood on Jun 17, 2013June 17th, 2013, 7:26 am EDT
the color was mostly dark olive to black. I did not have a chance to turn him over - ran away from me. So, I guess it was the Pteronarcys dorsata. Thanks, Lev
Lev
Oldredbarn
Oldredbarn's profile picture
Novi, MI

Posts: 2600
Oldredbarn on Jun 17, 2013June 17th, 2013, 7:47 am EDT
Lev...It's the cousin to the so-called "salmonfly" made famous on western waters, Pteronarcys californica.

It's one honking big bug...Did it startle you? :) I was on a float trip on the Au Sable a few years back and had a Dobsonfly (Hellgrammite) land on the back of my neck and it creeped me out. :) I was fishing after dark on the Huron river and had one of those Sphinx moths or Luna Moths fly right in to my face. I think it thought I was a tree and was going to land on my face. I ducked and swung my arm in to it...It looked like a damn bird coming at me. :)

"Nighttime maybe the right time", but I've run in to some odd things after dark...Once I hit a bat with my rod while in an Au Sable riverboat...I thought I'd hooked the guide and was afraid to look back at him, only to see him doubled over laughing, "Damn Spence! You just whacked a bat. Is your rod ok?!"

By-the-way...If you see my wife, I don't fish after dark, ok? ;)

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
Crepuscular
Crepuscular's profile picture
Boiling Springs, PA

Posts: 920
Crepuscular on Jun 17, 2013June 17th, 2013, 11:13 am EDT
I think it thought I was a tree and was going to land on my face.


veggie ;)


I once saw a bat land on the back of a guy downstream of me a short distance during the white fly on the yellow breeches, lots of weeping and wailing, splashing and ending with a very ungraceful splash.I think I wet my waders... I also have a friend who gets spooked by dinosaurs when fishing at night (he also refuses to use port-a-pots since he saw Jurassic Park).
Oldredbarn
Oldredbarn's profile picture
Novi, MI

Posts: 2600
Oldredbarn on Jun 17, 2013June 17th, 2013, 7:19 pm EDT
veggie ;)


Funny!

There is a cover article in the latest Sierra Club magazine called, "Eat Your Bugs!"...I don't think so! "Sure, They seem icky. But They're Good for you (and the planet)."

Hmmm...I think I'll stick to Sheetz...;)

Spence

I have swallowed a few reed smuts and gnats over the years of fishing after dark...But I don't do that anymore, ;), right dear?!
"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
Entoman
Entoman's profile picture
Northern CA & ID

Posts: 2604
Entoman on Jun 18, 2013June 18th, 2013, 10:09 pm EDT
Doin' a hit and run from the road.:) Looks like a perlid (Golden Stone family) to me. For starters - wrong head shape to be a pteronarcyd. Agnetina capitata (Northern Stone)?
"It's not that I find fishing so important, it's just that I find all other endeavors of Man equally unimportant... And not nearly as much fun!" Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman
Oldredbarn
Oldredbarn's profile picture
Novi, MI

Posts: 2600
Oldredbarn on Jun 19, 2013June 19th, 2013, 3:00 am EDT
Yeah...I agree. The size didn't
seem quite right and the dorsata has serious orange highlights visable from the top. If you google it "bug guide" has a nice picture of Lev's bug. It's twin. Fancy warrior shield/plate and all.

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

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