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 Skwala nymph still has a couple months left to go before hatching, but it's still a good representative of its species, which was extremely abundant in my sample for a stonefly of this size. It's obvious why the Yakima is known for its Skwala hatch.
Millcreek on Feb 17, 2016February 17th, 2016, 11:04 am EST
These were collected during the spring and summer from Mill Creek, a tributary of Dry Creek and the Russian River. They were collected from areas with a moderate flow and a gravel and cobble base. There was little filamentous algae but good growths of diatoms.
The larvae and pupae are 6-7 mm. The cases are 8 mm.
The larvae were identified using Merritt, Cummins and Berg (2008). The pupae were identified to family using the above.
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