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Grayling fishing and bug collecting at Nome Creek
It's been a busy year, and this is the first time I've been out fly fishing. My wife and I drove up to Nome Creek for a couple hours, looking for some easy action on small grayling, and it did not disappoint. I was still threading the line up through my guides when I heard her calling from the stream with a grayling on her fly. I told her that since she got the first fly-caught fish of the year, she can officially wear her I outfish my husband! merchandise now.
I also collected some nymphs for the site for the first time in a few years, including several mature Ephemerella aurivillii nymphs. Our dog Taiga had not experienced kick-netting before, but she decided to try to be as helpful as she could, imitating me by walking in front of the net and pawing at the water. The collection was very successful.
I also collected some nymphs for the site for the first time in a few years, including several mature Ephemerella aurivillii nymphs. Our dog Taiga had not experienced kick-netting before, but she decided to try to be as helpful as she could, imitating me by walking in front of the net and pawing at the water. The collection was very successful.
Photos by Troutnut from Nome Creek in Alaska
Closeup insects by Troutnut from Nome Creek in Alaska
Comments / replies
| GONZO | July 12th, 2011, 9:27 pm | |
Site Editor "Bear Swamp," PAPosts: 1681 | Awesome, Jason! Congrats on getting these rare and revealing pix! | |
| Entoman | July 12th, 2011, 11:23 pm | |
 Posts: 2604 | Well done, Jason! Congratulations. Best regards, Kurt | |
| "It's not that I find fishing so important, it's just that I find all other endeavors of Man equally unimportant... And not nearly as much fun!" Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman | ||
| Jesse | July 13th, 2011, 2:30 am | |
 | They are some great shots and beautiful scenery! | |
| Most of us fish our whole lives..not knowing its not the fish that we are after. http://www.filingoflyfishing.com | ||
| PaulRoberts | July 13th, 2011, 9:12 am | |
 Posts: 1776 | Very nice. Such nice images attached to a fishing report/slice of life are truly wonderful. Nice to know others are out there even if I'm stuck in domesticity. | |
| Oldredbarn | July 13th, 2011, 12:16 pm | |
 Posts: 2608 | Jason, Your bug there looks like a bleached or faded "Henny"...I think we could cover that one without a problem. Love that Grayling...I've said here before that the only Grayling left in Grayling, MI is hanging on the wall at the Grayling Restaurant...I dream of fishing to them one day! That's a pretty looking stream! Spence I'm also a little envious watching how little you are carrying there Jason...They used to say that the Grayling here wasn't such a "smart" fish and they would sometimes catch multiple fish at the same time on tandum rigs...Besides everything else they had to endure here this trait probably didn't work in their favor in the long run. | |
| "Even when my best efforts fail it's a satisfying challenge, and that, after all, is the essence of fly fishing." -Chauncy Lively "Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood | ||
| Adirman | July 13th, 2011, 12:36 pm | |
 Posts: 504 | That really looks alot like a Hendrickson or should I say, a Red Quill. Is there a common name? | |
| Jmd123 | July 13th, 2011, 1:12 pm | |
 Posts: 2611 | BEE-YOO-TEE-FULL photos, Jason, both large and small. And way to show Spence how us "minimalists" do it before he requires some serious back surgery for carrying the load of two vests in one... As far as Grayling, Michigan is concerned, I always refer to it as "the town named after the fish that it killed"...Kinda like streets named after the trees that used to grow there before they were all cut down for subdivisions and strip malls. I'm envious that you have a fishing wife...and is that there dog helping kick up bugs off the bottom? Jonathon | |
| No matter how big the one you just caught is, there's always a bigger one out there somewhere... | ||
| Troutnut | July 13th, 2011, 10:46 pm | |
 Administrator Bellevue, WAPosts: 2737 | I just added pictures of 6 more bugs (7 specimens -- one was added separately as a nymph and dun). Now we know what both genders of Ephemerella aurivillii look like as duns. Anyone know how to identify western Cinygmula (nymph & corresponding female dun) or Heptagenia (nymph) species? | |
| Jason Neuswanger, Ph.D. Troutnut and salmonid ecologist | ||
| Troutnut | July 13th, 2011, 10:52 pm | |
Administrator Bellevue, WAPosts: 2737 | Is there a common name? I've never heard of a common name for Ephemerella aurivillii, but it should probably have one considering how widespread it is. | |
| Jason Neuswanger, Ph.D. Troutnut and salmonid ecologist | ||
| Entoman | July 14th, 2011, 1:00 am | |
Posts: 2604 | Jason - One thing that strikes me as very interesting is both sexes have little color difference between their dorsal and ventral surfaces. As to a common name? As probably the first photo's of duns associated with the nymphs taken Jason, the honor goes to you to get it started. Whether we like it or not though, I think it's going to end up being lumped with the Hendricksons much like the small Western sulphurish ephemerellids are lumped with PMD's and the Eastern olivaceous ones are lumped with the BWO's. Perhaps get a jump on it and put an appropriate word in front of Hendrickson? You can certainly see why this fly was never differentiated in the East. No excuse for us out West though. Rumors of large pinkish ephemerellids have persisted for years, and a few brave souls have even described them in print with the caveat that it must be the soil or water chemistry "that done it". Peer pressure is a funny thing. We're not supposed to have "Hendricksons" out West according to orthodoxy so these reports usually get chalked up to mistaking Epeorus albertae (Pink Gordon) inspite of the different tail count. This is a very interesting turn of events. Regards, Kurt | |
| "It's not that I find fishing so important, it's just that I find all other endeavors of Man equally unimportant... And not nearly as much fun!" Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman | ||
| Troutnut | July 14th, 2011, 3:14 am | |
Administrator Bellevue, WAPosts: 2737 | I'm not sure what would be a good common name for them. False Hendrickson, maybe? My first thought was "Little Western Hendrickson," but I don't really like those long compound common names that appear in books but nowhere else, and it's not just a western species anyway. Since it's a circumpolar mayfly, maybe it should be called the Magellan. Or, since the duns eluded public description for so long, they could be called Ninjas. Or, as you suggested, Bigfoot. Since I already have Darth Vaders and Booger Sulphurs on this site, it can't get a whole lot stranger. Here are a few more ideas...
I guess I'm kind of partial to the Latin name for this one. It's a fun one to say. It'll twist your tongue once or twice but then it really rolls off, assuming I'm pronouncing it correctly anyway: aura-villy-eye. | |
| Jason Neuswanger, Ph.D. Troutnut and salmonid ecologist | ||
| Taxon | July 14th, 2011, 5:30 am | |
 Site Editor Royse City, TXPosts: 1350 | Hi Jason- My guess would be aur-uh-VILL-ee-eye. | |
| Best regards, Roger Rohrbeck www.FlyfishingEntomology.com | ||
| Adirman | July 14th, 2011, 6:05 am | |
Posts: 504 | What about calling it a Villy? Or, a Villy Hendrickson? | |
| Adirman | July 14th, 2011, 6:11 am | |
Posts: 504 | BTW, how do you bug guys tell the diff between the Villy and the Subvaria or, true Hendrickson (ha! ha!) | |
| Oldredbarn | July 14th, 2011, 12:42 pm | |
Posts: 2608 | BTW, how do you bug guys tell the diff between the Villy and the Subvaria or, true Hendrickson (ha! ha!) Taste really! The Villy goes better with a Pinot and a slice of asiago while the good-old-fashioned Henny is better with an ever so slightly chilled Merlot... | |
| "Even when my best efforts fail it's a satisfying challenge, and that, after all, is the essence of fly fishing." -Chauncy Lively "Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood | ||
| Jmd123 | July 14th, 2011, 1:23 pm | |
Posts: 2611 | And what type of bread would you recommend, Spence? A nice sourdough, lightly toasted, or something more along the lines of a rye variety, perhaps with caraway seeds, hmmm? Or maybe a chunk of focaccia dipped in herbed olive oil...must be getting near my lunchtime! Uh-oh, we're turning into the Food Channel again... Jonathon | |
| No matter how big the one you just caught is, there's always a bigger one out there somewhere... | ||
| PaulRoberts | July 14th, 2011, 1:35 pm | |
Posts: 1776 | My vote is to NOT give it a common name. How about Hellegravilly. If it catches on then someone in the future can puzzle over the name. | |
| Entoman | July 14th, 2011, 2:42 pm | |
Posts: 2604 | All I ask is please, PLEASE, not a bastardization of it's scientific name! Flav's, Trico's. Lepto's, Hexes... Drives me nuts!:) How about Pale or Pink Hendrickson? You could throw a Western in there Jason, it's not that painful.:) A play on it's name would be ok though. How about "Village Idiot"? Describing (encounters with) pink ephemerellids out West has unfairly caused a few anglers to be thought of that way in the past.:) | |
| "It's not that I find fishing so important, it's just that I find all other endeavors of Man equally unimportant... And not nearly as much fun!" Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman | ||
| Oldredbarn | July 14th, 2011, 3:23 pm | |
Posts: 2608 | A play on it's name would be ok though. How about "Village Idiot"? Better be careful here Kurt or Roger's going to think you and I have been out drinking together...Your tongue is in a cheek-like position in a Spencer-est fashion...;) | |
| "Even when my best efforts fail it's a satisfying challenge, and that, after all, is the essence of fly fishing." -Chauncy Lively "Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood | ||
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