Note: This information is as region specific (S.E. MN) as I can tailor it to be. It may be relevant to Northern Parts of Iowa and Southwestern Wisconsin. Also, if I forgot something/made a mistake in my information PLEASE post with what needs to be changed. This is for my benifit as well as visitors to W.F.F.

Looking at the 1st nymphal category “The Crawlers” there are five Mayfly species that have direct relevance to myself as well as other S.E. MN anglers. The following is a list in order by approximate hatch dates with condensed versions of relevant information. Thank You Troutnut.com for the excellent pictures.  

The Crawlers

Dark Hendrickson (Ephemerella subvaria ) 12-14 Reddish brown to tan.  April-May

Look for nymphs in the gravel and vegetation of slower meandering water. These nymphs tend to swim for a longer time and can be twitched upon retrieval. Hatching begins at 50-55 degrees. Hatches 2 points out the importance of poor weather slowing the duns down and providing for optimum fishing dun patterns. 

Light Hendrickson (Ephemerella invaria) 12-16 Tan with olive and yellow cast. Late May-June

These nymphs tend to prefer medium-fast water and like subvaria the nymphs use the current to choose an optimum emergence site. So they make for good nymph fishing because they are movin’! Hatching occurs in water from 50-60 degrees. Hatches 2 makes a big point of noting the size and color differences by a hook size or more between invaria, rotunda and dorothea. Meaning to me that I should tie these slightly larger because I’m looking specifically at invaria. 

Iron Blue Quill (Paraleptophlebia) 18-20 Dark gray with maroon cast. Late May-June 

My book says that the hook size for a dry is supposed to be 16-18. The nymphs tend to prefer quieter water. The gills are much larger on these nymphs than those of ephemerella.

Sulfur (Ephemerella dorothea) 16-18 Orange to cream. Late May-Early July

So my research in telling me that dorothea has typical ephemerella features and will spend time finding a spot to emerge. The book really makes a big point to note that dorothea differs from invaria by a full hook size and color. 

White-winged Blacks a.k.a. Trico’s (Tricorythodes) 20-24 Charcoal. July-Sept

I fished during trico action so I’ve seen these and they are small. The book and other info is right on for a 20-24 size hook. The nymphs thrive in streams with a p.h. of 7.5 and above. Nymphs live in the silt, sand and gravel in slow to medium current. As well as the aquatic plant life. Hatching between 52-56 degrees. Trico’s also have typically a very long period of emergence spanning over months.

Trying to keep this short but very useful. Hope my goal is accomplished. Also, I picked dun photos because I’m tying Compara-Dun Dries at the moment. Pictures coming soon.

Today I fished almost the entrie length of one of the branches of the Whitewater River today. I would not recommend this for most people. This is on one end rediculious bordering on insane and on my end what I call ambitious. Early on I realized I managed to forget my camera sorry about that.

Started before 7 in a wet, cold, cloudy and rainy section of stream. On the advice of the vets I started with a pheasant tail nymph. I caught several smaller Browns working runs for a few hours through the rain. I was pleased to see that my Pt’s can infact catch fish. I fished for several hours in the morning working slowly up stream.

At 1pm I stopped and ate lunch and came to the conclusion that to make it to where I needed to be to pull out (I arranged for Liz to pick me up after dark and drive me back to my truck) I needed to cover some ground. So I started hiking. Now, here is some added info. I was wearing hip waders so keep that in mind. I had one of two choices, go through the stream or land. I was in state wildlife managment area and land was an option however this when I did do it was much like what I imagined the jungle of Vietnam would have looked like. Thick. Slow going, kept going. Saw an unbelievable amount of fish, I didnt stop to fish though, I felt I needed to make up ground before dark. 

I got to see a part of this stream that probably doesnt get fished to often because of how far one must hike from the nearest put in. I got to the point on the stream where I knew where I was and had plenty of time to hit my PT for a few more Brown one that hit 15in.  I wanted to take a top water strike so I started using a variety of terrestrials. The weather cleared up and sun shined for quite a while in the afternoon through dusk so I tried a variety of beetles and hoppers producing little. I switched to something I call a zug bug. Got a large one on that and it faught hard it was only 15in though but it jumped quite a bit. Only got the one strike and switched to the PT through the end of the night picking up a few more Brown and a Rainbow too. 

At the end I stopped fishing to notice something kind of special. At 545 I started seeing larger white what I believe to be Mayflies. I caught one and noticed two very long spotted feelers in front, two sets of wings, one grey the other white. The body was light orange turning to light yellow on the end. The body was very small, less than a 1/4in. I watched them dance on the water just teasing the trout. None landed, until about 6:20pm when I noticed two come togather and spin up high in the air and then drop to the water. They laid in the water for almost two minutes and then took off. I saw this a few more times and then just watched solo ones search, I’m assuming, for another pair. I watched until the very last one left flew and flew until it flew high and then droped. And was promptly eaten. That was the best part of the day and I wish I had my camera. I apologize for the length.

To say one thing, this was not easy. I was safe and carried lots of water and food for dinner. I had a map and a flashlight. I learned something important, stay dry. I need to re-evaluate my winter fishing gear to keep warm and dry. I was soaked from sweat under my waders and I was in only one pair of light pants. I’m sore but I feel accomplished. Goodnight.

The W.F.F.