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.
This one pretty clearly keys to Kogotus, but it also looks fairly different from specimens I caught in the same creek about a month later in the year. With only one species of the genus known in Washington, I'm not sure about the answer to this ID.
I've been lucky enough this summer to see a tremendous amount of good scenery and good fishing during my work on three Alaskan streams and breaks in between. I have a backlog of good photos to share from all these adventures, once I eventually have time this winter. But this one I just couldn't wait to post.
MiltRPowell on Aug 3, 2015August 3rd, 2015, 7:50 am EDT
Thanks for that photo. You have a way of capturing moments in nature that many of us cannot get to see. I really enjoy this site, info, photos, opinions, & more. Find the site, very eye opening, there 2 very hard 2 explain. But keep it up, the sky is your limit, your work in your field, be your palate.
Thanks, Milt.....
Troutnut on Aug 3, 2015August 3rd, 2015, 11:00 pm EDT
I've been catching lots of them both for research and on breaks during research trips. Each data set consists of a few hours of video recording of the fish, concurrent with drift sampling, followed by diet sampling. While the cameras are rolling, we often have time to go off somewhere downstream to do some fishing without disturbing our data fish. And when the cameras are done rolling, I try to catch the same fish we were filming (and usually succeed) to pump their stomachs for comparison with model predictions.
Anyway yes, I've caught several hundred grayling this year. :)
Jason Neuswanger, Ph.D.
Troutnut and salmonid ecologist