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.
Catskilljon on May 22, 2016May 22nd, 2016, 5:25 pm EDT
I was glassing a new section of stream today in the Catskills, in Sullivan County near my place.
I was observing from a rock wall 6 ft above the water. Out of the corner of my eye I saw flying toward me [and the stream] what initially looked like a #2 hook size stone fly, however this bug flew with a real purpose, not clumsily like stone flys do. It flew over the water, then just dropped into it with a splat, hard enough to make me think it got knocked out from the landing. I was glad it hit the water as this usually slows them down enough for me to see it clearly, but it actually went under and started swimming [quite proficiently I may add!] with a hinging motion. It stayed just under the surface and disappeared under one of the boulders I was standing above. It looked brownish/tan.
I wish I got a better look at it, but the whole thing happened in about 5 seconds. In the water and from about 10 ft away it looked more like a click beetle, at least the way it propelled itself subsurface, but this thing was much bigger, I would estimate it to be almost 2 inches long.
Any ideas? Im surry for being so vague but its all I got.