Troutnut.com Fly Fishing for Trout Home
User Password
or register.
Scientific name search:

> > GD Shuck



This topic is about the Mayfly Species Ephemera guttulata

Ephemera guttulata's size, numbers, and hatching characteristics have made it a favorite of fly fishermen since the sport first came to our waters.

It is on par with the Midwest's Hexagenia limbata hatch for its ability to lure huge piscivorous (Piscivorous: Anything which eats primarily fish is a piscivore.) brown trout to eat insects at the surface once a year. The special charm of the Green Drake hatch is that it often takes place during pleasant Spring afternoons. It can be challenging because the large flies are easy for trout to inspect in the daylight and they feed very selectively, especially late in the hatch.

The Green Drakes are on the decline due to environmental degradation. Read more...

Male Ephemera guttulata (Green Drake) Mayfly Spinner Male Ephemera guttulata (Green Drake) Mayfly Spinner (12 Pictures)
Female Ephemera guttulata (Green Drake) Mayfly Dun Female Ephemera guttulata (Green Drake) Mayfly Dun (16 Pictures)

There are 1 more specimens...

The Discussion

Post Reply
MartinlfMay 29th, 2013, 11:03 am
Moderator
Palmyra PA

Posts: 3233		Jason's photo of a GD shuck suggests that at hatch time the backs of the nymphs may be a greyish or grey olive color. Possibly useful information, if this is an accurate surmise.
"He spread them a yard and a half. 'And every one that got away is this big.'"

--Fred Chappell
Feathers5May 29th, 2013, 12:28 pm
Posts: 287Louis, profanities are prohibited on this site. Couldn't you just write shuck?
Bruce, Goose, Lastchance, Feathers5, etc.
SayfuMay 29th, 2013, 12:59 pm
Posts: 560I have always been in a quandary when it comes to the color of my trailing shuck. The one shuck that I have visibly seen a lot of are Chironomid empty shucks on the lake's water surface. They appear clear, and much like cellophane. When I have brought up that question to one of the "expert" speakers, they seem to be not very positive themselves, and appear as if that question was never asked. I often use an "amber" Zelon shuck, and don't worry about it.
MartinlfMay 29th, 2013, 3:23 pm
Moderator
Palmyra PA

Posts: 3233		Sorry, Bruce, I know I should restrain myself. But that Gosh Darn Green Drake hatch is so frustrating, it's hard not to use a little blue language at times. By the way, your new favorite stream is fishing pretty good with the nymphs right now.
"He spread them a yard and a half. 'And every one that got away is this big.'"

--Fred Chappell
KonchuMay 30th, 2013, 6:36 pm
Site Editor
Indiana

Posts: 505		I'm rearing a lot of mayflies right now, and the shuck almost always appears to be a grey or amber color. Most of the Ephemeridae I've seen are amber.
DayTripperMay 30th, 2013, 9:13 pm
Northern MI

Posts: 70		Here is a green drake shuck I collected on the upper Delaware on 6/7/08. I remember it being greyer than the pic shows. I also remember a greenish hue on the top side of the abdomen near the thorax. Doesn't show up very well in the photo, though.



There were quite a few of these floating along the south bank. Lots of duns flopping around on the water trying to dry their wings, and all the fish would touch were sulphurs.
KonchuMay 30th, 2013, 11:08 pm
Site Editor
Indiana

Posts: 505		Well, there you go! A picture is worth a thousand words.
OldredbarnJune 1st, 2013, 11:50 am
Novi, MI

Posts: 2608
and all the fish would touch were sulphurs.


Eric (Crepuscular) sent me a text message that claimed that sulphurs taste better to the trout and Ephemera taste like the mud they live in...Not sure if he speaks from experience or is just being silly. He knows a great deal about mud since he hangs around that slippery damn muddy Letort...I'm still trying to free my wading boots and waders of the stuff! ;)

Spence

I related a story from last Brown Drake time (2012) where I became fixated on the Brown Drakes...It was an evening float where I caught a 22", and a 20" Browns, and a 17" Bow...I had two rods strung up...My Winston sat there with a sulpher spinner in the hook keeper and it never dawned on me that the fish I missed were eating invaria spinners until I turned the mag-lite on the surface to find Brown Drakes and way more sulpher spinners...

Never under estimate the power of sulpher spinners...There is a stretch of the Holy Water known to friends as "Spencer's Hole of Shame"...It became such on a May evening in 1991 where the whole river seemed to be feeding and there were stoneflies everywhere by the trillions...I thought Stones and tossed every damn one I had in my box and never got a look...I was being eaten alive by every biting bug on the river and it was pitch black out...I waded downstream to my fishing buddy to see him landing a 16-18" Brown..."Spence...Did you catch the sulpher spinner fall? I told you to watch for the spinners!"

Our PED's and the western PMD's are cousins and the same applies out there unless there is a Baetis about...I figured that out in 2004 on the Gallatin before I almost created another "Hole of Shame"...

There just may be something to Erics theory that sulphers are tastier...Do you think I'd mess with my vegetarian karma too much if I ate a sulpher and a BD later this week when I'm back in Grayling? I have been in invaria hatches so thick I've had a couple in my mouth, but I spit them out. :)
"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
CrepuscularJune 2nd, 2013, 4:04 pm
Boiling Springs, PA

Posts: 923
Not sure if he speaks from experience or is just being silly


Who me? How else do you explain it?

I almost created another "Hole of Shame"...


Man, you are gonna have those all over the country ;)
OldredbarnJune 2nd, 2013, 6:41 pm
Novi, MI

Posts: 2608		Oh yeah! There was the missed fish on the Letort. Damn! And I was doing so good. :)
"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
CrepuscularJune 2nd, 2013, 7:05 pm
Boiling Springs, PA

Posts: 923
Oh yeah! There was the missed fish on the Letort. Damn! And I was doing so good. :)


Ah, you're doing better than good.

Quick Reply

You have to be logged in to post on the forum. It's this easy:
Username:          Email:

Password:    Confirm Password:

I am at least 13 years old and agree to the rules.

Related Discussions

TitleRepliesLast Reply
Re: Coffin Fly Spinner
In Male Ephemera simulans Mayfly Spinner by Jackson		6Jun 10, 2009
by Martinlf
Re: z-lon or shuck material
In Fly Tying by Flytyerinpa		2Jun 9, 2017
by FishMe69
Re: winter fishing - ice in the guides
In Gear Talk by Trowpa		14Jan 7, 2009
by Phishheaduj
Re: Green Drake QUig Cripple
In Fly Tying by JOHNW		2May 15, 2011
by JOHNW
Re: collected from Bitterroot yesterday Drake
In the Identify This! Board by Leskorcala		4Jun 17, 2020
by Leskorcala
Ephemerella dorothea dorothea (PED)
In the Identify This! Board by Wiflyfisher		0
Re: shuck and belly
In Male Baetis Mayfly Dun by Martinlf		2Dec 27, 2006
by Martinlf
Re: A few photos from recent outings (guide's days off)
In General Discussion by Crepuscular		8Jun 12, 2017
by Jmd123
Re: Grannom vs Apple Caddis
In the Insect Order Trichoptera by Walleye		7Jan 11, 2017
by Afishinado
Re: Another sulphur for comment
In Female Ephemerella invaria Mayfly Dun by Martinlf		1Aug 21, 2007
by Gene