Pale Evening Duns
Anglers usually shorten the Pale Evening Dun hatch to the PED hatch.
Like most common names, "Pale Evening Dun" can refer to more than one taxon. They're previewed below, along with 12 specimens. For more detail click through to the scientific names.
These are pretty much always called Pale Evening Duns.
These are often called Pale Evening Duns.
The spinner falls of this elegant species can be quite important to anglers across the West. Recent revisions have synonymized the Midwestern species
Heptagenia diabasia that may be of some local importance.
These are often called Pale Evening Duns.
This species, the primary "Sulphur" hatch, stirs many feelings in the angler. There is nostalgia for days when everything clicked and large, selective trout were brought to hand. There is the bewildering memory of towering clouds of spinners which promise great fishing and then vanish back into the aspens as night falls. There is frustration from the maddening selectivity with which trout approach the emerging duns--a vexing challenge that, for some of us, is the source of our excitement when Sulphur time rolls around.
Ephemerella invaria is one of the two species frequently known as Sulphurs (the other is
Ephemerella dorothea). There used to be a third,
Ephemerella rotunda, but entomologists recently discovered that
invaria and
rotunda are a single species with an incredible range of individual variation. This variation and the similarity to the also variable
dorothea make telling them apart exceptionally tricky.
As the combination of two already prolific species, this has become the most abundant of all mayfly species in Eastern and Midwestern trout streams.
These are sometimes called Pale Evening Duns.
This is one of the few Eastern species of the
Heptagenia complex to produce fishable hatches.
These are sometimes called Pale Evening Duns.
This widespread species produces more fishable hatches in the East and Midwest than any other species in the
Heptagenia genus complex.
Leucrocuta hebe (Little Yellow Quill) Mayfly Nymph
View 3 PicturesThis is a very early instar (Instar: Many invertebrates molt through dozens of progressively larger and better-developed stages as they grow. Each of these stages is known as an instar. Hard-bodied nymphs typically molt through more instars than soft-bodied larvae.). These are sometimes called Pale Evening Duns.
This is the second most common
Epeorus species in the East and Midwest. Most anglers will encounter sporadic hatches of
Epeorus vitreus once in a while, and sometimes a more concentrated emergence causes a good rise of fish.