My frequent fishing partner Brad Bohen spotted and photographed this beer poster in Brule, WI. He's got a good eye for trout, and this one looked familiar. Sure enough, it's a 15 incher I caught on the Beaverkill in the Catskills in August 2004 on an emergent sparkle pupa. I posted it here.
These caddisflies were thick over the water in the evening on a cold, clear northwoods lake. They were in many places on the lake, all closer to the shady shore, which also was the shore most sheltered from the wind. I'm not sure which of those features attracted them.
Here's an underwater view of the pupal shucks of several already-emerged Brachycentrus numerosus caddisflies.
Shuck: The shed exoskeleton left over when an insect molts into its next stage or instar. Most often it describes the last nymphal or pupal skin exited during emergence into a winged adult.) attached that it seems like they molt from the dun to spinner stage in mid-air. Actually they molt on streamside vegetation like other mayflies, but they sometimes take off to mate before they're completely finished.
Caddisfly larvae of this family can easily leave and re-enters their cases. I caught two of them playing musical chairs or something with this one... funny!
Water boatmen are excellent swimmers, and you can see here how they use their oars to push themselves through the water, a motion easily imitated by the fly fisher.
Ranatra Water Scorpion AdultView 7 PicturesHere's a big water scorpion (no relation to actual scorpions). These guys are just about the most sinister-looking creatures you could find, and what's especially creepy is that they can come up out of the water and fly around, as I learned when one left my aquarium and buzzed my head while I was peeking into the microscope at a mayfly nymph.