Ever fish a Paraleptophlebia guttata hatch?

[BradFromPotter]

Ever fish a Paraleptophlebia guttata(blue quills) hatch, either duns or spinners during the summer into September? I haven't been out fishing lately but as I was out on my morning bike ride along the West Branch of Pine I went over a trib & plenty of the spinners were in the air doing their thing. I think quite a few people mistake them for tricos.

 

[rrt]

Never even heard of it. But, I looked at the hunting camp portraits; quite an array. Is it as bad as we central state hunters hear; are many/most of the camps now empty in deer season b/c of the lack of deer?
I belong to one in Clinton Co, and no one goes any more for deer, but the camp is filled in bear season.

 

[mario66pens]

Love the camp photos Brad, reminds me of good times I had at my camp up north with my grandpa and uncles.

 

[Chaz]

BradFromPotter wrote:
Ever fish a Paraleptophlebia guttata(blue quills) hatch, either duns or spinners during the summer into September? I haven't been out fishing lately but as I was out on my morning bike ride along the West Branch of Pine I went over a trib & plenty of the spinners were in the air doing their thing. I think quite a few people mistake them for tricos.

Yes they do, but they have a very different mating flight pattern, Paralepts bob up and down, flying up and setting their wings, parachuting down and fly up again, doing this repeatedly.
Tricos mating flight is more a wave-like motion.
I've never fished that particular species, in fact have never herad of it, but I have fished the P. Adoptiva, and P. Mollis, especially the spinner flass whcih can happen during the evenings. Tie up a pattern using zlon wings dun hackle fibers for the tails and thread for the very thin body, that eat them like candy.
A few years back on Babb Cr. I caught a hatch of Adoptiva on opening day, millions of flies, but trout weren't rising to them.
Here's a recent portrait of the camp I belong to.

 

[afishinado]

Wow, Brad....never heard of that species.

Had to dig deep just to find any info or pic on the P gutt.

You may be right about mistaking it for a trico if the pic below is accurate.

 

[redietz]

Ever fish a Paraleptophlebia guttata(blue quills) hatch, either duns or spinners during the summer into September?

Not a species that I've personally experienced, that I know of -- most Pareleps are similar to each other.

From what I've been able to dig up on it. P guttata is a late spring hatch, although there are similar species that hatch in the early fall.

 

[geebee]

Yup. Not over here though - V common in Ireland and Southern England. Trout love them. After the spring hatch you can fish the Duns all summer long as the trout seem to remember them.

I've never fished the spinners. Always the dun. Nor have I heard of anyone fishing it. Perhaps they fall after dark ?

Also known as the Iron Dun on uk limestoners. Which is different to the US iron dun I think.

 

[BradFromPotter]

The hatch starts around the end of June & can go for 12 weeks.

 

[redietz]

BradFromPotter wrote:
The hatch starts around the end of June & can go for 12 weeks.

I couldn't say for sure, because to me one paraleps is pretty much the same as any other, but troutnut.com says:

Paraleptophlebia mollis, Paraleptophlebia guttata, and Paraleptophlebia strigula complement each other in late spring and early summer.

Paraleptophlebia debilis and Paraleptophlebia praepedita occur together in the fall.

I'm not saying you're wrong, though.

 

[sandfly]

yep that's the cabin Odie left a surprise for chaz at ...

 

[nymphingmaniac]

Blue quills are quite heavy in the SC area, including Lower Spring, LBE (especially) and LJ. They are mistaken for tricos. I call it a mirage hatch/fall. I've watched and have yet to see significant surface activity due to them. Part of the issue is that they don't have a synchronized fall as far as I can tell. The other is that they are heaviest over the shallow riffles, where its a bit more difficult for fish to hold (it is in the summer- low and clear). I have tried patterns matching the spinner without significant success (although I cannot rule out operator error). Fishing tiny softhackles or WD40s when they are out has resulted in fish. However, I cannot attribute that to me matching the blue quill. One thing that I believe I am successful at is imitating the nymph. They are relatively long and skinny. To imitate blue quill nymphs I reduce the number of PT fibers used to tie my PT nymphs and reduce the width of the thorax. The thorax is just a bit thicker than the abdomen.

 

[OldLefty]

Brad, be careful identifying down to species. You could just as well be seeing P. strigula. When I was doing research for my article on Paraleps back in the mid-90's for FFM I used 2 scientific references. The material from one reference conflicted with the other as to the identifying characteristics for P. guttata and P. strigula. I'm talking one using specific characteristics for the one specie and the other using the same characteristics for the other specie.

The main identifying characteristics I have obvserved with these later season species, as I refer to them, is a darker wing and lighter legs in the duns. The nymphs are not the yellowish-reddish-brown of the earlier season; rather, they are a darker grayish-brown.

I would never tell you that I've had picky trout refuse a pattern with a medium dun wing and hackle and accept a pattern with a dark wing and light dun hackle. I would never tell you that...

 

[Volksnurse]

OldLefty wrote:
Brad, be careful identifying down to species. You could just as well be seeing P. strigula. When I was doing research for my article on Paraleps back in the mid-90's for FFM I used 2 scientific references. The material from one reference conflicted with the other as to the identifying characteristics for P. guttata and P. strigula. I'm talking one using specific characteristics for the one specie and the other using the same characteristics for the other specie.

The main identifying characteristics I have obvserved with these later season species, as I refer to them, is a darker wing and lighter legs in the duns. The nymphs are not the yellowish-reddish-brown of the earlier season; rather, they are a darker grayish-brown.

I would never tell you that I've had picky trout refuse a pattern with a medium dun wing and hackle and accept a pattern with a dark wing and light dun hackle. I would never tell you that...

And Dave is the one I'd listen to....

 

[Chaz]

afishinado wrote:
Wow, Brad....never heard of that species.

Had to dig deep just to find any info or pic on the P gutt.

You may be right about mistaking it for a trico if the pic below is accurate.

That's a good pic of the spinner of the enus in general. When trout are taking BQ spinnrs they usually aren't very picky.
HEre's a pci of a Male trio for reference.

 

[pcray1231]

I've fished good spinner falls of Paraleps in June on Penns. Usually late morning. And yeah, fish rose to them. Seen them many times on Spring, too. Spinner falls late mornings in June, before the tricos begin. And every year, I hear reports of trico's coming early and wonder.

I took them to be P. Mollis, though. "Jenny spinners." Definitely had that clear thorax like afish's pic.

 

[mario66pens]

http://www.streamconditions.com/Penns_Creek_Hatches.cfm

Where the hatch chart has two entries for blue quill, the first is the adoptiva and the second the guttala?