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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 Clostoeca disjuncta (Limnephilidae) (Northern Caddisfly) Caddisfly Larva from the Yakima River in Washington
This one was surprisingly straightforward to identify. The lack of a sclerite at the base of the lateral hump narrows the field quite a bit, and the other options followed fairly obvious characteristics to Clostoeca, which only has one species, Clostoeca disjuncta.
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.
Troutnut is a project started in 2003 by salmonid ecologist Jason "Troutnut" Neuswanger to help anglers and fly tyers unabashedly embrace the entomological side of the sport. Learn more about Troutnut or support the project for an enhanced experience here.

Eighteenmile Creek is one of many pretty little trout streams in the forests of northern Wisconsin, and I have a soft spot for it because it's where I really got started trout fishing as a teenager during family vacations to a nearby lake from Missouri.

The fish were small, but feisty and colorful, and they were trout, which made them better than all the fish I had ever caught before. Things kind of spiraled out of control from there...

Landscape & scenery photos from Eighteenmile Creek

Eighteenmile Creek in Wisconsin
Eighteenmile Creek in Wisconsin
Eighteenmile Creek in Wisconsin
Eighteenmile Creek in Wisconsin
Eighteenmile Creek in Wisconsin
Eighteenmile Creek in Wisconsin
Eighteenmile Creek in Wisconsin
This beaver dam blocks fish movement in a small brookie stream.  Luckily the DNR seems to regularly remove the dams in this stretch, but the beavers just keep on rebuilding.

From Eighteenmile Creek in Wisconsin
Eighteenmile Creek in Wisconsin
Eighteenmile Creek in Wisconsin
This pretty little early season brown trout saved me from getting skunked.
Eighteenmile Creek

From Eighteenmile Creek in Wisconsin

Underwater photos from Eighteenmile Creek

Hundreds of cased caddisfly larvae live on this log in a small brook trout stream.

From Eighteenmile Creek in Wisconsin
This is my favorite underwater picture so far. It shows a bunch of Simuliidae (black fly) larvae clinging to a rock and swinging in the fast current. There are also at least four visible mayfly nymphs, probably in the family Baetidae.

From Eighteenmile Creek in Wisconsin
There are several mayfly and stonefly nymphs clinging to this log.

From Eighteenmile Creek in Wisconsin
Cased caddis larvae blanket this section of stream bottom.

From Eighteenmile Creek in Wisconsin
Hundreds of cased caddis larvae cling to sparse weed growth in the sand under heavy current.

From Eighteenmile Creek in Wisconsin
Eighteenmile Creek in Wisconsin
Several Baetid mayfly nymphs cling to this rock.  There are also some clumps of small stones which hold strong caddisfly larvae.

From Eighteenmile Creek in Wisconsin
Eighteenmile Creek in Wisconsin
A peculiar mayfly nymph clings to a log.  I'm not sure if it's a Heptageniid clinger or a flat-bodied Ephemerellid crawler, but I don't believe it's a species I've collected yet.

From Eighteenmile Creek in Wisconsin
A small stonefly nymph crawls around some gravel.

From Eighteenmile Creek in Wisconsin
Here's the view from inside an algae bloom in a still backwater along a pristine small stream.

From Eighteenmile Creek in Wisconsin
Light reflected from air bubbles left ghostly wisps in this fairly long exposure picture beneath a riffle.  It's got an accidental artistic look.

From Eighteenmile Creek in Wisconsin

On-stream insect photos from Eighteenmile Creek

A lone fly rests upon a rock in the middle of a little brook trout stream that's catching the late afternoon sun.

From Eighteenmile Creek in Wisconsin

Closeup insects by Troutnut from Eighteenmile Creek in Wisconsin

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