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.

The trees were leafing out and the trout were rising on this productive Wisconsin stream

From the Namekagon River in Wisconsin

Stream photos

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Perlodidae (Springflies and Yellow Stones) Stonefly Nymph Perlodidae (Springflies and Yellow Stones) Stonefly Nymph

Artistic view of a Perlodidae (Springflies and Yellow Stones) Stonefly Nymph from the Yakima River in Washington

This one seems to lead to Couplet 35 of the Key to Genera of Perlodidae Nymphs and the genus Isoperla, but I'm skeptical that's correct based on the general look. I need to get it under the microscope to review several choices in the key, and it'll probably end up a different Perlodidae.

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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.

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Gills

Wbranch

York & Starlight PA

Posts: 2635

Wbranch on Jul 24, 2007July 24th, 2007, 3:37 am EDT

Have any of the tiers here ever compared their success ratio with flies tied with and without gills? I'm not much of a nymph fisher anymore but will resort to that approach if it is obvious the riseforms are to subsurface life cycles. I've tied gills on larger hook sizes like #10 - #14 but it gets dicey on #16 - #18. I was wondering if ribbing on a nicely tapered abdomen wouldn't be enough to offer the appearance of gills.

I looked at the photo of the Dorothea nymph on the "Aquatic Insects" page and it appears to have distinct gills of a much lighter color than the abdomen. Any thoughts on this? Thanks in advance.

Catskill fly fisher for fifty-five years.