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.
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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.
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.
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Catskilljon on Jul 27, 2014July 27th, 2014, 12:05 pm EDT
Got my second hat trick last weekend, 3 species on the same stream. The conditions up there are remarkable for this time of year as the freestones still have high 50* water in the morning and flows have been consistently good all year.
A couple shots...
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The bugs are scarce but the fishing still has been good.
CJ
A couple shots...
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The bugs are scarce but the fishing still has been good.
CJ
Martinlf on Jul 27, 2014July 27th, 2014, 1:27 pm EDT
Nice work, especially for this time of year!
"He spread them a yard and a half. 'And every one that got away is this big.'"
--Fred Chappell
--Fred Chappell
Jmd123 on Jul 27, 2014July 27th, 2014, 4:47 pm EDT
Very well done!! Always fun to catch a variety. What did you get them on? Looks like bead-heads?
Jonathon
Jonathon
No matter how big the one you just caught is, there's always a bigger one out there somewhere...
Crepuscular on Jul 31, 2014July 31st, 2014, 9:04 am EDT
nice John! good to hear everything is staying fishable up there.
Catskilljon on Jul 31, 2014July 31st, 2014, 4:11 pm EDT
What did you get them on? Looks like bead-heads?
Jonathon
Yea Johnny, almost everything on #12-#18 BH hares ears and PT's. I have really trimmed down my fly selection this year and have been focusing on putting standard flies in better places on the stream. I am starting to think the fly isn't really a factor [on the freestones I fish anyway] as much as getting it where its supposed to be.
I know that sounds a little generic, but its taken me this long to actually do it! CJ
Catskilljon on Jul 31, 2014July 31st, 2014, 4:13 pm EDT
nice John! good to hear everything is staying fishable up there.
Everything has been fantastic up there all year so far. I was just talking to some guys the other day that I have not seen a "low water" condition all year [so far!] CJ
Jmd123 on Jul 31, 2014July 31st, 2014, 5:27 pm EDT
CJ, I did my first "hat trick" way back in my formative years, we're talking 1990 here...one night on the Maple River in Emmet County, MI (near the University of Michigan Biological Station, where I was doing Masters research for the summer), I got one of each, and if memory serves me they were all on a #10 Royal Wulff. This fly continues to serve me to this day in various sizes (see my last two posts)...anyway, I was thrilled, they weren't big (10-12" if I remember correctly) but catching three very different looking fish in the fading twilight of a summer's evening was pure joy. And I went to the local bar (Hoppie's) afterwards and celebrated on the dance floor with my fellow biologists!
"I have really trimmed down my fly selection this year and have been focusing on putting standard flies in better places on the stream."
My approach exactly! Except I am primarily a dry-fly fisherman, but like you, I have pared down my selection over the years to those patterns that consistently produce for me over the long run. Sometimes I get caught off guard and run into a hatch that I have a hard time matching, but it's ridiculous how well an Adams will work in such circumstances (as I did with Red Quills for Little Black Quills this spring on the Rifle and Pine). The streams that I fish are not fly-pounded, more likely worm-drowners and hardware slingers, so I do not run into "extreme hatch-matching" except perhaps during Hendricksons in spring or Light Cahills or hoppers in summer. Just give them something good-looking and they'll take a whack at it! Maybe that's why Wulff patterns work so well...
Jonathon
"I have really trimmed down my fly selection this year and have been focusing on putting standard flies in better places on the stream."
My approach exactly! Except I am primarily a dry-fly fisherman, but like you, I have pared down my selection over the years to those patterns that consistently produce for me over the long run. Sometimes I get caught off guard and run into a hatch that I have a hard time matching, but it's ridiculous how well an Adams will work in such circumstances (as I did with Red Quills for Little Black Quills this spring on the Rifle and Pine). The streams that I fish are not fly-pounded, more likely worm-drowners and hardware slingers, so I do not run into "extreme hatch-matching" except perhaps during Hendricksons in spring or Light Cahills or hoppers in summer. Just give them something good-looking and they'll take a whack at it! Maybe that's why Wulff patterns work so well...
Jonathon
No matter how big the one you just caught is, there's always a bigger one out there somewhere...
Crepuscular on Jul 31, 2014July 31st, 2014, 6:53 pm EDT
Things are good here as well. Fished a yellow drake hatch tonight. Plenty of flies. I was thinking of coming up for summerfest this weekend. Maybe I'll bump into ya?
Catskilljon on Jul 31, 2014July 31st, 2014, 7:07 pm EDT
Things are good here as well. Fished a yellow drake hatch tonight. Plenty of flies. I was thinking of coming up for summerfest this weekend. Maybe I'll bump into ya?
If you do decide to go, and you go on Saturday you will in fact bump into me, whether you like it or not! I am working the bridge taking donations, so I see every single patron who comes by! Hope you go man! CJ
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