Another bug ID...

[jayL]

Saw this guy on a SEPA ATW on saturday around 1:30pm. He came off amongst a bunch of caddis and little black stoneflies.

http://i.imgur.com/SnYme.jpg

The camera washed some of the green color out. There was a dark, emeraldish green sheen on the back. The wings were dark dun. Two tails. Size was about a 14. Anyone want to take a guess?

 

[Heritage-Angler]

BWO would be my guess. A bit big, though.

 

[afishinado]

Baetis

 

[Chaz]

I'd say Quill Gordon, but I'll ask does the stream have a QG hatch?

 

[gfen]

Been under the assumption that similar ones I've seen were quill gordons.

 

[afishinado]

Yeah, could be a QG:

 

[pcray1231]

I'm in agreement with Chaz. Quill Gordon.

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/681

Mostly due to size. Not sure I could tell them apart otherwise, but a 14 Baetis would be HUGE. The largest Baetis I've ever seen are 16's, and most are 18's and smaller.

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/665

The other BWO's (Drunella varieties), which I call late olives, are larger and often 14's. But in my experience, they're more a May/June thing, not to mention they have 3 tails.

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/752

 

[TUNA]

Tuesday was a very interesting day on a central PA limestone river. Cooler by about 20 degrees, it rained virtually all day off and on, mostly a light rain. By noon there were a variety of olives on the water. Some may have been Acerpenna--if they hatch this early in the season. They were tiny and had some yellow-orange in the bodies.

There were many others as well, all ranging from about a size 22 to a size 26, some with grey wings, some about a size 22 with black wings. The fish seemed to be keying on these latter bugs, which were more visible at least to me, and seemed to be more plentiful. Anyway, I caught fish on a parachute emerger with a black post. I'm wondering if the black winged olives might be Acentrella--the bug formerly known as Pseudocloen. Someone a few years back identified these bugs to me as Pseudocloen, but I'm not at all sure he was right.

The only black-winged olives I can find in Knopp and Cormier (yes, I know it's an imperfect reference--but it's the most detailed Mayfly book I own) are Baetis brunneicolor, which they list as both a western and eastern species, but only describe the western species as having black wings. They give Acentrella turbida the common name of "little slate-winged brown quill" but I think of slate wings as darker grey, not black.

Finally, I'd like some help on a very mean fish. He was eating olives--I'm not sure which ones, or at what stage of emergence--right in front of me. I threw several patterns at him, and had I not been shaking with the cold I might have tried a few more. (I finally left for the warmth of the car's heater and some more cooperative fish downstream.) The only thing that got a nod was a sunken soft hackle, but he refused that also after giving it brief consideration. What would you have thrown at him?

I copied the above from: http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/641

 

[Acristickid]

Poor photo.

 

[jayL]

One of the larger olives was originally my guess, but it's too early. It was definitely far too large to be a baetis, and the body was longer. The thorax was also less robust.

I am going with QG as well, though it was a darker specimen.

I was on French Creek. Thanks for your contribution, Paul.

 

[mcwillja]

Jay -

I am almost positive that that is a QG. When you said it was a size 14 and had an emerald green sheen to it, and the time of year it hatched, it points to a quill gordon. I have actually tied some of my QG emergers with caddis green thorax because I read an article somewhere that newly hatched QGs have a bright green sheen to them.

 

[pcray1231]

Genus Pseudocloean still exists. Many of its members were reclassified into the Baetis genus. Both genuses are in the Baetidae family.

Pseudocloean tend to be very small, 22's and 24's, but there are Baetis in that size range as well. There's so many species, sizes, and color variations in the Baetis family that I think I'd be hard pressed to distinguish Psuedocloean from Baetis, without an entomologist with a microscope at my side.

That said, I'd venture to guess your mean fish was taking emergers, especially since you said he gave a soft hackle wet a nod. A nymph fished in the film would have been tried. I don't carry dedicated emergers in BWO's, but I often use no-hackle duns like parachutes or comparaduns. As long as you don't float em too high, you can get the body just below the surface. And as always, fish with this particular hatch tend to be very drag shy, and I'd probably spend more time trying to get that right than worrying about the pattern.

 

[brokenpole]

I can't discern the characteristics of the body segments and number of tails from the picture, but i think from what you are describing the mayfly is a blue quill (Paraleptophlebia adoptiva ). Unless it is a Q.G..

 

[Heritage-Angler]

Really tough to tell from the picture. Here's a French Creek hatch chart that has the BWO listed as size 14. Maybe someone else was confused somewhere along the line...

http://www.flyfishingconnection.com/frenchcreek.html

 

[DGC]

I don't know French Creek. If it's a QG or similar Epeorus that's a vote of confidence for the stream's water quality. If you hadn't said two tails, I would have gone with a Black Quill which is Leptophlebia (or at least it used to be), though a bit early for them.

Pure guesswork on my part.

 

[afishinado]

Googled up this QG image. Dark w/ green sheen. Yup I would say QG.

 

[jayL]

That is exactly it. QG it is. Case closed.

Thanks for the input.

 

[shortrod]

TUNA,

My next move would have been a "peacock". It is just peacock herl wrapped around a dryfly hook and trimmed to taper like a nymph. The idea is take away everything that would cause the fish to refuse.

 

[sandfly]

Makes ya wonder why this fly works so good this time of year;

 

[Chaz]

BTW QG's fly up from the bottom so a wet fly(or soft hackle) would work very well for them, on cold days there are also a lot of cripples on the water, plus they drift on the water a long time when it's cold.