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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.

Lateral view of a Onocosmoecus (Limnephilidae) (Great Late-Summer Sedge) Caddisfly Larva from the Yakima River in Washington
This specimen keys pretty easily to Onocosmoecus, and it closely resembles a specimen from Alaska which caddis expert Dave Ruiter recognized as this genus. As with that specimen, the only species in the genus documented in this area is Onocosmoecus unicolor, but Dave suggested for that specimen that there might be multiple not-yet-distinguished species under the unicolor umbrella and it would be best to stick with the genus-level ID. I'm doing the same for this one.
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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Jmd123 has attached these 3 pictures. The message is below.
Last Friday on an elkhair caddis, this guy was up in shallow water where I later spooked up three suckers - was he following them picking up their leftovers?
Another one from shallow, slack water...?  #12 Royal Wulff this time
This guy rose once and moved some water, knew he wasn't little
Jmd123
Jmd123's profile picture
Oscoda, MI

Posts: 2474
Jmd123 on Oct 19, 2016October 19th, 2016, 8:55 pm EDT
Though Michigan's regular season closed on September 30th, we are lucky to have waters that stay open year-round. Such is the Rifle River below Sage Lake Road, and with a 15" minimum limit (year-round) on browns (and brookies but you never get them in the mainstem). With our nice mild October weather I have been there 4 times this month and got fish on dry flies every time, including yesterday evening. Fish have been running small this year, but I managed three 12-inchers in the last two trips, pretty good for this time of the year when things are really slowing down. The first three trips I saw an assortment of mayflies and caddisflies, and several fish were feeding each time. Tonight I saw one single caddisfly, and a moth back at my car once I was done, and barely a few random rises, but the old secret weapon Royal Wulff brought up three, two nice browns and a little rainbow, and a fourth fish that I lost. This might be my last dry fly trout fishing of the year, tomorrow it's supposed to be down in the 50's F and for the foreseeable future...I'll keep my fingers crossed for a few nicer days in November.

Jonathon
No matter how big the one you just caught is, there's always a bigger one out there somewhere...
Wbranch
Wbranch's profile picture
York & Starlight PA

Posts: 2635
Wbranch on Oct 20, 2016October 20th, 2016, 2:45 am EDT
Great looking wild browns. Is that last one 13"? I'm not too sure how yo read those measurement nets.
Catskill fly fisher for fifty-five years.
Jmd123
Jmd123's profile picture
Oscoda, MI

Posts: 2474
Jmd123 on Oct 20, 2016October 20th, 2016, 9:34 am EDT
Funny Matt, I thought I read 12" in the net, but once I saw the picture it seems like it really is 13". OK, I'll go with that! Maybe it grew an inch in the time it took me to fumble with my camera for the pic...but yes, the Rifle River grows some very pretty brown trout, with an occasional nice rainbow in the mix.

Jonathon
No matter how big the one you just caught is, there's always a bigger one out there somewhere...
TimCat
TimCat's profile picture
Alanson, MI

Posts: 121
TimCat on Oct 20, 2016October 20th, 2016, 7:25 pm EDT
Love those blue halos
"If I'm not going to catch anything, then I 'd rather not catch anything on flies" - Bob Lawless

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