Procloeon???

[trico mike]

Every yearfor about the last 8 years I have been running into a hatch on a certain river I fish. They usually start coming off the third week of april and go to the second week of may. They are a sulphurish yellow body, two light colored tails, yellow legs and dark slate wings and they do not have hind wings. They are a size 22-24. Could these flies be Procloeons? I fish many other rivers in the area and never see them but on one certain river. The trout seem to love these thing and they hatch heavy until about the time the sulphurs get going. All the research I have done seems to point to them being Procloeons but I can't seem to find any pictures of them. Any body have any thoughts on what they maybe, or is my assumption correct? Also has anybody else run into them? Thanks Mike

 

[onemorecast]

Well, I can't help you with the taxonomy, but I will tell you an experience. Yesterday afternoon/early evening, I fished a section of river where tiny olives were coming off. They looked to be very light in color. The fish were all over emergers yet I couldn't buy a hit using my #20 olive and gray RS2's. I normally prefer storebought RS2's, as I am unable to match the segmentation the commercially tied flies have. I never catch fish on my own RS2's. But last night, after switching to one that I tied using a very light olive for the abdomen and a darker olive thorax, only then was I catching fish.

Another thing I noticed is that the storebought flies turned dark when wet, but whatever dubbing I tied mine with didn't. Now a smart tier would have written down which dubbing she used, but oh no, not me. I think that those darker colors imitate Baetis pretty well, but if the tiny olive you are seeing is so much lighter, it ain't gonna cut it.

Here's some photos of Procloeons, courtesy of Bugguide.

 

[Corndog]

Jess, thanks for that link. Always looking for new bugsites.

Trico, You gotta get a good camera. Pics would be helpful.

Cdog

 

[Dizzy]

Well, from one bug nerd to another… I have seen the hatch you are describing locally on the Bushkill, Saucon, and Martins Creeks… they predate the “sulphur” hatch by about a week.

I am not SURE, but I believe you are in the right “Cloeon” ballpark and I was thinking they are one of the larger species formerly known as Pseudocloens. Acentrella turbida matches the size, description, and timing… not sure though, but until I convince myself otherwise, this is what I am sticking with. It is about a hook size 20 Sulphur, right?

As I said I have seen them every season locally, but the fish haven’t gotten nearly as excited to see them as I have.

 

[Dizzy]

Check that Mike, right Genus, wrong species (I think)…

When I got home from work I pulled out Nymphs Volume I (Schweibert)… the write-up for Acentrella parvula (formerly Pseudocloen parvulum) describes the freshly hatched dun as having pale grayish dun wings, rich golden tan bodies with a faint olive back, and chalky white tails. Size is as noted above.

The common name is (was) the Minute Pale Watery.

Sound like the beast?

 

[trico mike]

Sounds like it could be them .The one key indicator is 2 tails and no hind wings what ever they are the trout were I fish gobble them up from 3 o'clock until about dark and the spinners seem to come back in the late morning to mid afternoon so you can fish on top almost all day. Thanks for all the info. I'll try to get a picture but my camera is not the greatest and the photographer is even worse:crap:

 

[Dizzy]

Sounds like it could be them .The one key indicator is 2 tails and no hind wings what ever they are the trout were I fish gobble them up from 3 o'clock until about dark and the spinners seem to come back in the late morning to mid afternoon so you can fish on top almost all day. Thanks for all the info. I'll try to get a picture but my camera is not the greatest and the photographer is even worse:crap:

Absolutely… two tails, no hind wings… I even checked a few duns out under a magnifying glass just to be sure that there was no tiny “tear drop” wing that I was missing (Baetis). So I knew it was the same family that you were thinking, but didn’t have enough info to ID it until I got Nymphs.

I haven’t seen the fish move for them though in the streams around my way… the sulphur nymphs are quite active during this time as well as the Hydropsyche caddis so maybe they are preoccupied with larger and easier targets.

 

[NJDrew]

Call me crazy, but im pretty sure i saw these in KLG about a week ago. When I got there I did my normal "grab at thin air" dance for about 30 mins (I really need an insect net :crap and one of the few insects that I got uncrushed looked like that. I will say however that the wings looked more blonde than Grey, but that small its hard to tell.

 

[trico mike]

Dizzy one of the streams you mentioned is the one that I see the trout eating them. The rises are very subtle. The last 2 weeks has been good for them. Leaving now to head up suprisingly it is not blown.

 

[Dizzy]

Dizzy one of the streams you mentioned is the one that I see the trout eating them. The rises are very subtle. The last 2 weeks has been good for them. Leaving now to head up suprisingly it is not blown.

You must be headed for the Saucon... because the Bushkill and Martins were both ripping brown last night.

Tight lines!

 

[trico mike]

Got back lasl night, They came on friday heavy and the trout ate good. Saturday was weird caddis all day but no mayflies in the evening was really expecting to see some sulphurs( usually I start to see them around mothers day) oh well still good fishing and the creek was in great shape.