Borcher Drakes

Mayflies

Caddisflies

Stoneflies

Scientific Names

Match	Scientific Name
	Leptophlebia
	Ephemerella subvaria

Like most common names, "Borcher Drake" can refer to more than one taxon. They're previewed below, along with 6 specimens. For more detail click through to the scientific names.

Mayfly Genus Leptophlebia

These are often called Borcher Drakes.

Leptophlebia mayflies do not generate superhatches, but their medium-large size and other properties make them a relevant part of the early season.

The information below was mostly discovered in Leptophlebia cupida, the most important species, but it is not known to differ in the others.

Leptophlebia cupida (Borcher Drake) Mayfly Nymph

View 8 Pictures

Collected March 29, 2005 from in
Added to Troutnut.com by on April 6, 2006

Male Leptophlebia cupida (Borcher Drake) Mayfly Dun

View 6 PicturesThis Leptophlebia cupida dun was extremely cooperative, and it molted into a spinner for me in front of the camera. Here I have a few dun pictures and one spinner picture, and I've put the entire molting sequence in an article.

Collected May 27, 2005 from in
Added to Troutnut.com by on May 16, 2006

Female Leptophlebia cupida (Borcher Drake) Mayfly Spinner

View 7 Pictures

Collected May 28, 2005 from in
Added to Troutnut.com by on May 24, 2006

See 17 more specimens...

Mayfly Species Ephemerella subvaria

These are very rarely called Borcher Drakes.

The Hendrickson hatch is almost synonymous with fly fishing in America. It has been romanticized by our finest writers, enshrined on an untouchable pedestal next to Theodore Gordon, bamboo, and the Beaverkill.

The fame is well-deserved. Ephemerella subvaria is a prolific species which drives trout to gorge themselves. Its subtleties demand the best of us as anglers, and meeting the challenge pays off handsomely in bent graphite and screaming reels.

Ephemerella subvaria (Hendrickson) Mayfly Nymph

View 4 PicturesI've never seen this strange coloration on any Ephemerella subvaria nymph in a book before, but it's similar to several other specimens I collected on the same outing, including a smaller one that I photographed. They were outnumbered by the "normal" Ephemerella subvaria nymphs in the sample.

Collected March 29, 2005 from in
Added to Troutnut.com by on April 7, 2006

Male Ephemerella subvaria (Hendrickson) Mayfly Dun

View 9 PicturesI collected this male Hendrickson dun and a female in the pool on the Beaverkill where the popular Hendrickson pattern was first created. He is descended from mayfly royalty.

Collected April 19, 2006 from in
Added to Troutnut.com by on April 22, 2006

Male Ephemerella subvaria (Hendrickson) Mayfly Spinner

View 11 PicturesI collected this beautiful male Hendrickson specimen as a dun, along with a female Hendrickson from the same hatch. Both molted into spinners in my house within a couple of days.

Collected April 23, 2007 from in
Added to Troutnut.com by on April 25, 2007

See 31 more specimens...

Jargon Defined:

Dun: Mayflies have two adult stages. They first emerge from the water as duns (scientifically known as the subimago stage). They then molt into the spinner (imago) stage, in which they mate and die. Sometimes the word "dun" is confusingly used to refer to a brownish gray color in fly tying materials.

Molting: When aquatic insects with hard exoskeletons (like mayfly and stonefly nymphs) grow bigger, their exoskeleton does not grow with them. Instead they grow a new, larger one underneath and shed the old one when it's too small. This process is called molting.

Nymph: The juvenile, underwater stages of mayflies, stoneflies, dragonflies, and damselflies and other aquatic insects whose juvenile stages are covered by hard exoskeletons. The word can also refer to the fishing flies which imitate these creatures, in which case it is used as a blanket term for flies imitating any underwater stage of an invertebrate (except for crayfish and leeches).

Spinner: There are two winged stages of adult mayflies. They emerge from the water as duns, molt on land (usually) into their fully mature stage, spinners. As spinners, they mate, lay eggs, and die.