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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.

Dorsal view of a Neoleptophlebia (Leptophlebiidae) Mayfly Nymph from the Yakima River in Washington
Some characteristics from the microscope images for the tentative species id: The postero-lateral projections are found only on segment 9, not segment 8. Based on the key in Jacobus et al. (2014), it appears to key to Neoleptophlebia adoptiva or Neoleptophlebia heteronea, same as this specimen with pretty different abdominal markings. However, distinguishing between those calls for comparing the lengths of the second and third segment of the labial palp, and this one (like the other one) only seems to have two segments. So I'm stuck on them both. It's likely that the fact that they're immature nymphs stymies identification in some important way.
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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Gt2003
Broken Arrow, Ok

Posts: 25
Gt2003 on Mar 7, 2019March 7th, 2019, 2:52 am EST
I'm headed to Bennett Spring in Missouri to fish the stream stocked with hatchery trout. This is a place a Veteran friend of mine likes to go each year. I love to fish so have gone with him the last few years and fished with ultralight spinning gear. I've used different colored jigs as well as wooly boogers. This year I'm taking my Cabela's Big Horn 5w rod/reel combo as I see this setting as a good one for fly fishing practice. I've only pond fished with fly gear previously so this should be an interesting experience.

Any suggestions for fly types for the trip (4/23-25)? We are staying at Weavers resort near the stream. They have a decent tackle shop so I can pick up any extra's there before we fish.

I've got a few wooly boogers in olive and brown along with a small fly box with smaller flies: from recent pics I've looked at these are some Copper Johns, Midges in different colors and some Gray Hare's ear nymphs. I've got a few Power Bait Trout worms left from fishing lake Taneycomo so I might fish those in zone 3 on a 1/100th oz head. I also picked up some strike indicators.

Any other "go to" flies or baits you might suggest for the trip? Thanks in advance
Jmd123
Jmd123's profile picture
Oscoda, MI

Posts: 2474
Jmd123 on Mar 7, 2019March 7th, 2019, 6:16 am EST
I've done the MO trout parks before. Beware - those danged fish see almost everything known to man! I once had some MO trout turn their noses up at nice #16 sulfurs that matched the hatch pretty well. On the other hand, a brown about 18" or so came up and snapped at a hot-pink WB in size 10...go figure, they don't want the real stuff, they want flies that look like candy...?

Best of luck and no judgement here. Go for the bigger holdovers, they will prove quite a challenge to you. BTW, Woollies work in all colors, experiment and you might just get them going. Ever try them in yellow, hot orange, blue and silver, chartreuse? Skip the spinning fear entirely and show off your fly fishing skills to your buddies! Make them envious and ask what you are dong to catch all of those fish. Trust me, it's a lot of fun to show up the bait and hardware fishers on a fly rod!

Tight lines and say hi to MO for me, lived and fished there many years ago.

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

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