After rooting around in a few of my favorite spots from last season I found a few has two or more varieties of Baetis(BWO) nymph. One of which stood out to me and as such I’ve tied essentially a Hare’s Ear nymph with a different color body and wing case. I tried to tie these as close as I could to the original size of the nymph and I think I came pretty close, next sample I get I will compare. I decided to dub this fly the Yeller Belly Baetis. So here it is: 

The Yeller Belly:

• Hook: #16-18 2xLong Nymph
• Thread: Yellow 8/0
• Tail: Lemon Woodduck Fibers
• Rib: Silver SM Ultra Wire
• Body: Yellow/Pale Yellow Dubbing Mix
• Wing Case: Pearlecent Krystal Flash
• Thorax: Yellow Dubbing

Left work the other day with an hour of light. The air temp on my way to the stream was 29 degrees but I was layered well and ready for a short romp in the water. There is something very calming and peaceful about being on the water at dusk. I stopped to watch a trout rise almost every two minutes to take something off the top of the water. I love watching trout hold a feeding pattern, something to take note of when it comes time to cast that fly. I collected samples from a specific spot on this stream because I fished downstream of where I took samples last season with my friend Heath. I remember I caught a few trout on Light Cahill dry flies. 

I drove home when I could no longer see well enough to take samples. Note: the water temp was a nice cool 40-41 degrees. I drove home in the dark listening to MPR. It reminded me of many trips this summer driving home after dark listening to the radio. It was a crisp but good hour in the stream. When I got home I examined my samples and found interesting results. 

It gave me confidence to remember I caught trout on Light Cahill patterns and then to find nymphs from the Macaffertium family. I haven’t come to a conclusion between Vicarium or Ithica but I’m going to figure it out. I also found several Baetis and Emphemerella nymphs. Note: the brighter yellow on the Baetis and as a result of that yellow I tied several size 16 and 18 Hare’s Ears with yellow and cream bodies. I’ll be posting new flies soon. One last thing to discuss here would be the second to last photo above. I have yet to figure out what it is. The side of the macro you can’t see has several suckers on it. It is definitely not a caddis larva, and it was very long probably 12-14mm. Anyone have any thoughts? I’ll be looking too.

Could it be a Cranefly larva?

The Hatch

I saw this video on the Moldy Chum’s Blog and on Mountain River Journal’s Blog and found it to be quite informative and very well done. As it is of mayflies I thought it fitting to post it here for my future reference. Note: The nymphs in the beginning are defiantly in the burrowers category note the tusks and if I’m correct these are Ephemera guttulata. My reasons for this identification are the shape of the tusk on the nymphs, and the distinct light yellow gill section and the much darker abdomen. Also the duns appear to match the larger size and color of the guttulata. Unfortunately, these do not inhabit my waters.