Question:
Tres Cool! Left my house south of Ba’more at about 6:20 a.m. (O-dark-thirty for the rest of you). Headed north to beautiful Somerset, NJ (exit 10 North) and pulled into the Doubletree Hotel parking lot at 0930. First time on the NJ Turnpike. If you’re doing 75, then turn on your emergency flashers and get on the shoulder. Also, if I’d not bought anything, discounting gas, the tolls and the entrance fee cost me about $32. Sheesh!! I’m a West Coast kinda guy. We ain’t used to these toll roads. A few yards inside the door, there’s Tom Littleton tying one on (a Catskill tie). I go to the Mike Martinek presentation and he remembers me and Frank’s Fightin’ Craw from the Chatsworth Angling Fair in the UK back in ‘97. At 12:30, Tom is done tying so we wander through to shop and check out the heavy hitters on hand. We see A.K. Best, Borger (father and son), Fishy Fullum, Tim Trexlar, Oliver Edwards, Jack Gartside, Dick Talleur and a few dozen more. Just watching these folks tie is incredible. There are some new people there too. Gentleman by the name of Dave Martin. He ties the most realistic lion fish (yes, its a fly done with deer hair) that I’ve ever seen. His blue-ringed octopus and scorpion are just as amazing. I’ll post the pic of the lion fish this evening. Overall, a very worthwhile show. By the way, Tom said that Stan, Handyman Mike and a few others were gonna show up. Where were you, you whimps!? If I can vibrate my spine silly on the Turnpike from the south, then someone should have to suffer the trip from the north. Thanks Tom for the introductions (man, everyone knows him) and the wonderful time. — Frank Reid Reverse email to reply
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Next time try – I-695 to I-83 North to I-81 North to I-78 East To I-287 South. $0.25 toll each way (pay $0.50 when west bound) at the Delaware river. and believe it or not, it’s not 10 minutes longer and usually shorter due to low traffic volumes. I’ve been doing it both ways for years. Gene
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Tres Cool! Also, if I’d not bought anything, discounting gas, the tolls and the entrance fee cost me about $32. Sheesh!! I’m a West Coast kinda guy. We ain’t used to these toll roads. — Frank Reid Reverse email to reply
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Thanks! "Eugene Cottrell" – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Next time try – I-695 to I-83 North to I-81 North to I-78 East To I-287 South. $0.25 toll each way (pay $0.50 when west bound) at the Delaware river. and believe it or not, it’s not 10 minutes longer and usually shorter due to low traffic volumes. I’ve been doing it both ways for years. Gene
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Overall, a very worthwhile show. By the way, Tom said that Stan, Handyman Mike and a few others were gonna show up. Where were you, you whimps!?
(Un)fortunately, I get to play host for Thanksgiving this year so I have to rearrange the house to get a dining room back. Also got signed up for a software project on Friday, so my schedule is way too tight. I really wanted to go this year. Did you by any chance get to see Marla Blair tying? She usually shares a table with Dick Talleur and I know they were traveling down together. She ties some amazing (unfishable) realistic grasshoppers and crickets. –Stan (I *will* be at the Somerset flyfishing show in January)
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Stan, I saw Marla tying up something terrestrial, tough to get details as she had a crowd around her. Too bad you couldn’t make it down…..maybe Danbury over the winter?? Tom
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I would LOVE to have made it up to this event! Couldn’t get away this time around though. 
Right now I’m in pretty good shape in all departments except hooks and a tyer can NEVER have enough chicken feathers! What I missed most was the techniques to be learned from the real experts. I have an interest in the Catskill style and would really like to improve myself in that area. — Wayne To Fish is Human…To Release Divine!
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Tres Cool! Left my house south of Ba’more at about 6:20 a.m. (O-dark-thirty for the rest of you). Headed north to beautiful Somerset, NJ (exit 10 North) and pulled into the Doubletree Hotel parking lot at 0930. First time on the NJ Turnpike. If you’re doing 75, then turn on your emergency flashers and get on the shoulder. Also, if I’d not bought anything, discounting gas, the tolls and the entrance fee cost me about $32. Sheesh!! I’m a West Coast kinda guy. We ain’t used to these toll roads. A few yards inside the door, there’s Tom Littleton tying one on (a Catskill tie). I go to the Mike Martinek presentation and he remembers me and Frank’s Fightin’ Craw from the Chatsworth Angling Fair in the UK back in ‘97. At 12:30, Tom is done tying so we wander through to shop and check out the heavy hitters on hand. We see A.K. Best, Borger (father and son), Fishy Fullum, Tim Trexlar, Oliver Edwards, Jack Gartside, Dick Talleur and a few dozen more. Just watching these folks tie is incredible. There are some new people there too. Gentleman by the name of Dave Martin. He ties the most realistic lion fish (yes, its a fly done with deer hair) that I’ve ever seen. His blue-ringed octopus and scorpion are just as amazing. I’ll post the pic of the lion fish this evening. Overall, a very worthwhile show. By the way, Tom said that Stan, Handyman Mike and a few others were gonna show up. Where were you, you whimps!? If I can vibrate my spine silly on the Turnpike from the south, then someone should have to suffer the trip from the north. Thanks Tom for the introductions (man, everyone knows him) and the wonderful time. — Frank Reid Reverse email to reply
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Stan, I saw Marla tying up something terrestrial, tough to get details as she had a crowd around her. Too bad you couldn’t make it down…..maybe Danbury over the winter?? Tom
The Danbury show is January 3-5. I’ve never been to that one, but it’s pretty close by and I know a couple of people I could talk into going. All they have listed on their site is a bunch of tying classes (and a rod building class). What else do you know about that show? We already have a room booked for the Somerset show in January – I think at the Holiday Inn (better bar than the DoubleTree). I love that show.
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Howdy All Would have liked to have made the show myself but with the recent rains i am behind on my yard cleanings with snow a possibility this week had to get as much done as we could this weekend. Maybe in Jan. who knows the weather will dictate that also. Handyman Mike Standing in a river waving a stick
Response:
There are some new people there too. Gentleman by the name of Dave Martin. He ties the most realistic lion fish (yes, its a fly done with deer hair) that I’ve ever seen. His blue-ringed octopus and scorpion are just as amazing. I’ll post the pic of the lion fish this evening.
The lion fish fly pic is on a.b.p.f. Frank
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Question:
I have corresponded with a couple entomologists specializing in Mayflies that were very willing to help me with some questions I had. I can give you their email addresses if you’re interested but with the little bit of information you have (and it is from a forty year old memory) I don’t think they will be able to help you.
Agreed. I think the only way to settle this for sure is to find someone familiar with this particular hatch on that body of water. Wolfgang
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- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I think the prize goes to Tom (a shiny, new nickel) as Kropp and Cormier’s "Mayflies’ list the Dark Green Drake as the largest of the N.A. mayfly species, larger than our hexes. There is quite a size range with body length ranging from a 16 to 40 millimeters and a recommended hook size from 12 to a whopping #2. Um…Recurvata is Hexagenia Recurvata ((Great) Dark Green Drake), and the L. mentioned by Tom is likely from the similar, but smaller, H. Limbata. While it would seemingly fit Wolfgang’s description ("Hatches" even makes mention of it appearing "almost black" on the wing), it is a Hexagenia. Wolfgang – you said something about being certain it was not hexagenia – why? As H. Recurvata and H. Limbata are close, with the Limbata hatch even being known mistakenly in Michigan as, again, according to "Hatches," a "Caddis Hatch," and also being called a "Michigan Caddis" or "Michigan Mayfly."
H. limbata is much too light colored and too large to be my mystery bug. Still having trouble getting on the web, so I haven’t been able to look at H. recurvata (or Litobrancha recurvata as it now seems to be called), or the Epeorus you mentioned earlier for that matter. I’m surprised to read that the Green Drake is considered by Kropp and Cormier to be the largest of the North american mayflies; every reference I’ve seen says that honor belongs to H. limbata. Wolfgang
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JAFB, Wolfie — TBone
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– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I think the prize goes to Tom (a shiny, new nickel) as Kropp and Cormier’s "Mayflies’ list the Dark Green Drake as the largest of the N.A. mayfly species, larger than our hexes. There is quite a size range with body length ranging from a 16 to 40 millimeters and a recommended hook size from 12 to a whopping #2. Um…Recurvata is Hexagenia Recurvata ((Great) Dark Green Drake), and the L. mentioned by Tom is likely from the similar, but smaller, H. Limbata. While it would seemingly fit Wolfgang’s description ("Hatches" even makes mention of it appearing "almost black" on the wing), it is a Hexagenia. Wolfgang – you said something about being certain it was not hexagenia – why? As H. Recurvata and H. Limbata are close, with the Limbata hatch even being known mistakenly in Michigan as, again, according to "Hatches," a "Caddis Hatch," and also being called a "Michigan Caddis" or "Michigan Mayfly." H. limbata is much too light colored and too large to be my mystery bug. Still having trouble getting on the web, so I haven’t been able to look at H. recurvata (or Litobrancha recurvata as it now seems to be called), or the Epeorus you mentioned earlier for that matter. I’m surprised to read that the Green Drake is considered by Kropp and Cormier to be the largest of the North american mayflies; every reference I’ve seen says that honor belongs to H. limbata.
I think you may have that backwards in that I think you’ll find that Recurvata is larger than Limbata, but only just. In any case, they are close enough in size that it doesn’t really matter – if one is much too large, the other will be as well. If they are too large, then color really doesn’t matter, but I’ve seen references that indicate both can range in color. Based on the information that Recurvata/Limbata is much too large, I’d try to get a look at Epeorus. Here’s a link I found: http://www.mayfly.com/articles/WW7.html by Al Caucci and I’ve also emailed you a copy of the "suspect." TC, R – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Wolfgang
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rdean notes: Um…Recurvata is Hexagenia Recurvata ((Great) Dark Green Drake),
was….then got reclassified as Litobrancha Recurvata. Geez, all this latin has me dizzy. Let me grab a beer! Tom
Response:
rdean notes: Um…Recurvata is Hexagenia Recurvata ((Great) Dark Green Drake), was….then got reclassified as Litobrancha Recurvata. Geez, all this latin has me dizzy. Let me grab a beer! Tom
Ah…thanks. I guess then I ought to add that everything I’ve indicated in this thread may be equally outdated. I’m almost afraid to ask, but…any idea why? TC, R
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– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Did it look like this? http://www.charlesmeck.com/600slatedrake.jpg That looks a lot more like what I remember. There’s still a good bit of brown in this one but, in truth, 40 some years later it’s hard to be certain that the bugs I saw and which I was NOT interested in examining closely did not have some brown. On the other hand, a brief search on the web shows that both Isonychia bicolor and Isonychia sadleri are referred to as Slate Drakes and both of these, according to the hatch charts I looked at, run in the 14-12 size range. Again, it’s quite possible that my memory has magnified them, but I’m fairly certain these bugs were bigger.
What about an Epeorus variety – "Iron Dun," and even "Quill Gordon," perhaps, to some (or "Dark Wing Quill Gordon")? If you have the Caucci/Nastasi "Hatches," you will find info there, or perhaps a web search. If you do the web search, don’t take the first picture you find, if it appears unlike the one you remember. I did a search, looked at a couple, and there seems to be no actual consensus among the few sites I looked at as to exactly what was what. I did, however, notice this one, which unfortunately, has no picture: http://www.maineflyfishing.com/bluedun/pattern.htm Look under "Quill Gordon," where it says, "Quill Gordons are called Epeorus Pleuralis (ee-pee-or-us ploor-alice) by those up on Latin and just plain old "bigggggg dark mayflies" or "Iron Duns" by the rest of us. They are big (size 10/12), dark, have two tails (barred and equal to their body length), double wings…" TC, R
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I think the prize goes to Tom (a shiny, new nickel) as Kropp and Cormier’s "Mayflies’ list the Dark Green Drake as the largest of the N.A. mayfly species, larger than our hexes. There is quite a size range with body length ranging from a 16 to 40 millimeters and a recommended hook size from 12 to a whopping #2.
Um…Recurvata is Hexagenia Recurvata ((Great) Dark Green Drake), and the L. mentioned by Tom is likely from the similar, but smaller, H. Limbata. While it would seemingly fit Wolfgang’s description ("Hatches" even makes mention of it appearing "almost black" on the wing), it is a Hexagenia. Wolfgang – you said something about being certain it was not hexagenia – why? As H. Recurvata and H. Limbata are close, with the Limbata hatch even being known mistakenly in Michigan as, again, according to "Hatches," a "Caddis Hatch," and also being called a "Michigan Caddis" or "Michigan Mayfly." TC, R – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Peter Visit The Streamer Page at http://www.mountaincable.net/~pcharles/streamers/index.html
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I’ve found all kinds of good entomological sites on the web, but all fall short of what would be ideal for this situation. For example, I found a site that has range maps for all known mayfly species within the state of Wisconsin (a USGS site, of all the odd places) but as interesting, and doubtless valuable, this information is, it’s pretty much useless without cross referenced information regarding appearance, habitat, and habit of the target species. Although the Web has a vast amount of information, it is often difficult or even impossible to find the specific information that you want. I would like to see the studies done at public Universities made available on the Internet. Because the data would need to be inputted, it would be costly and difficult for older studies, but virtually all current research is composed on a computer and making them available to the public wouldn’t be a monumental task. This access could be a condition for any researchers getting public funding for their research. Consulting an entomologist has occurred to me, but this is neither as easy nor necessarily as promising as it might sound. First, one would necessarily have to find an aquatic entomologist (or at least one with a specific interest in aquatic species…..a fly fisher perhaps). I know of a good aquatic entomologist at UW, Stevens Point but he happens to specialize in plecoptera and, scientific specialties being what they are, this might not help much even if I were trying to identify a stonefly unless he happened to be a taxonomist or have some other reason to be familiar with my target species. I have corresponded with a couple entomologists specializing in Mayflies that were very willing to help me with some questions I had. I can give you their email addresses if you’re interested but with the little bit of information you have (and it is from a forty year old memory) I don’t think they will be able to help you. As you stated, local subspecies might look and behave a great deal differently than expected for a variety of reasons. Hell, it isn’t even unreasonable to suppose that we might be dealing with a species unknown to science. Granted, it isn’t likely but new species (especially of small and highly localized arthropods) do turn up from time to time. There is also the possibility (admittedly also unlikely) of a known species behaving in an uncharacteristic manner. For example, an uncommon species might suddenly reproduce successfully in undreamed of numbers within a given location due to an unusual and highly beneficial confluence of circumstances. You may very well be right about this. One of the researchers I contacted said that they were MANY unknown species and local variations. There just isn’t much grant money available to study them. The vast amount of research done on insects is on insect control (where the money is). Willi
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- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – What about an Epeorus variety – "Iron Dun," and even "Quill Gordon," perhaps, to some (or "Dark Wing Quill Gordon")? If you have the Caucci/Nastasi "Hatches," you will find info there, or perhaps a web search. If you do the web search, don’t take the first picture you find, if it appears unlike the one you remember. I did a search, looked at a couple, and there seems to be no actual consensus among the few sites I looked at as to exactly what was what. I did, however, notice this one, which unfortunately, has no picture: http://www.maineflyfishing.com/bluedun/pattern.htm Look under "Quill Gordon," where it says, "Quill Gordons are called Epeorus Pleuralis (ee-pee-or-us ploor-alice) by those up on Latin and just plain old "bigggggg dark mayflies" or "Iron Duns" by the rest of us. They are big (size 10/12), dark, have two tails (barred and equal to their body length), double wings…"
Unfortunately, I seem to be unable to access anything on the web right now. We had some trouble with the college server last week. Looks like it may not be entirely resolved yet. I’ll take a look at the Epeorus as soon as I can. Thanks Wolfgang
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I think the prize goes to Tom (a shiny, new nickel) as Kropp and Cormier’s "Mayflies’ list the Dark Green Drake as the largest of the N.A. mayfly species, larger than our hexes. There is quite a size range with body length ranging from a 16 to 40 millimeters and a recommended hook size from 12 to a whopping #2. According to the book, they are clumsy on takeoff as they are so large, often skipping across the water. They emerge at dusk or after sunset being primarily a cool lake species but slow, silty parts of rivers will hold them too. BTW, at the beginning of August, we drove through a blizzard light cahill hatch at dusk. Still trying to get the critters off my car. Peter Visit The Streamer Page at http://www.mountaincable.net/~pcharles/streamers/index.html
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Well, roughly anyway. Maybe this is it? Late June through mid July – Ephemera Simulans, Brown Drake, this is the most prevalent large mayfly hatch in the Upper Peninsula.
I was fortunate to fish a Brown Drake hatch this year at Silver Creek. These are by far the largest mayflies I’ve ever seen, and the hatch was prolific. The hatch occurs in the evening and through the night, until it’s so dark that you can only detect the takes by ear. These bugs live in slow moving water with a silty bottom. The nymphs are swimmers, and they’ll take fish before the hatch with a stripped retrieve. — visit my web site: http://home.earthlink.net/~royalwulff/
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Wolfgang, dear boy. There is only one mayfly that is as prolific as the ones you describe. Hexagina Limbatas! So thick are they during the early days that they would cover a cabin and all the screen doors with their numbers. God! What an insect! George Gehrke
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Well, roughly anyway. Maybe this is it? Late June through mid July – Ephemera Simulans, Brown Drake, this is the most prevalent large mayfly hatch in the Upper Peninsula. Willi
Nope. Found a picture of Ephemera simulans: http://www.flyshop.com/bench/hatchguide/index.cfm?page=bug&row=13 Not the same critter at all. As the common name suggests, this beastie is brown. The one I remember is black. Thanks. Wolfgang
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I think they were some kind of a variation of huge Brown Drake. Hear me out. I’ve got the same question… 55-60 years ago, when I was growing up in Chicago, I lived on the far north side 2 blocks from Lake Michigan. Every summer, sometime in June, there was a massive hatch of Mayflys almost exactly as you describe. They were coming off the shore of the lake. There was no other body of water within 50 miles that could support such a hatch. It was so prolific it completely blackened the street lights, covered the store front windows – you couldn’t see out. They covered the ground so thick they squished under your feet. I remember some of them having a very dark brown hue as well as slate gray to black. They were easily size 6 – 8. They were NOT Hexigina. I never found out what they were for sure. In recent years I’ve seen other similar hatches coming off clear Canadian Lakes that were known to be Brown Drakes. Wolf, keep it as a sweet memory of your youth. Dream about someday being on a stream or lake holding 10 lb. Rainbow when a hatch like that comes off. The fish go wild and you go bonkers. Heaven. Joel Axelrad **DFD**
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Nope. Found a picture of Ephemera simulans: http://www.flyshop.com/bench/hatchguide/index.cfm?page=bug&row=13 Not the same critter at all. As the common name suggests, this beastie is brown. The one I remember is black. Thanks.
Did it look like this? http://www.charlesmeck.com/600slatedrake.jpg — Warren change addy to yahoo for email Henry’s Fork Clave info http://www.geocities.com/troutbum_mt3/HFclave.html
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Discounting them by about thirty percent for temporal magnification and the horror factor still leaves them at a good size eight or even a solid six…..and possibly a bit larger. Any ideas?
wolfie, no discounting…. it must have been…. http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/images/bat_big_jpg_image… –waldo
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Wolfgang asks: Any ideas?
ask around among the academic types for someone who knows an entomologist. There are probably very good entomologies online(which may limit access). People will probably suggest Ephemera and Hexes, but there an awful lot of obscure mayfly species, and lakes have locale specific subspecies you might never encounter unless you blunder on them. I will venture with the closest I have ever seen. It would be: L(Litobrancha?).Recurvata, which was once classified with the Hexes. In PA they are called Dark Green Drakes. They hatch at or into dark, sometimes on real cloudy days, a bit earlier, say 7 PM. They are huge, maybe bigger than the Green Drakes. The bodies are a darkish grey, with rings of paler yellow tan along the abdomen. Wings are a smokey grey, mottled somewhat. They look nasty, as they are a bit heftier in the body(squatter, might be better). Hatched out of a silty pool in Penns one night on Makela and I, fish going silly, no good imitations, massive bugs in mouth and hair, etc.etc. That was in 1993, haven’t seen one since. Tom
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Did it look like this? http://www.charlesmeck.com/600slatedrake.jpg
That looks a lot more like what I remember. There’s still a good bit of brown in this one but, in truth, 40 some years later it’s hard to be certain that the bugs I saw and which I was NOT interested in examining closely did not have some brown. On the other hand, a brief search on the web shows that both Isonychia bicolor and Isonychia sadleri are referred to as Slate Drakes and both of these, according to the hatch charts I looked at, run in the 14-12 size range. Again, it’s quite possible that my memory has magnified them, but I’m fairly certain these bugs were bigger. All in all, I think uncle Wally’s candidate looks the most promising. 
Wolfgang
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- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Discounting them by about thirty percent for temporal magnification and the horror factor still leaves them at a good size eight or even a solid six…..and possibly a bit larger. Any ideas? wolfie, no discounting…. it must have been…. http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/images/bat_big_jpg_image…
THAT’S IT! I’d recognize the bastard anywhere! Wolfgang who is reasonably certain he doesn’t even want to know what the nymphs look like. :(
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I think they were some kind of a variation of huge Brown Drake. Hear me out. I’ve got the same question… 55-60 years ago, when I was growing up in Chicago, I lived on the far north side 2 blocks from Lake Michigan. Every summer, sometime in June, there was a massive hatch of Mayflys almost exactly as you describe. They were coming off the shore of the lake. There was no other body of water within 50 miles that could support such a hatch. It was so prolific it completely blackened the street lights, covered the store front windows – you couldn’t see out. They covered the ground so thick they squished under your feet.
I remember talking about this with you, but I don’t recall whether you said anything about the substrate there. The bugs I encountered would almost have to have been burrowers. The bottom of this lake was very soft….even very near shore where turbulence would wash away at least some of the muck you would sink at least ankle deep in the stuff. I’m not intimately familiar with the Lake Michigan shoreline in the Chicago area, so I may have missed it, but I don’t believe there’s any large protected area that would have that kind of soft bottom. Do you know of any such? I remember some of them having a very dark brown hue as well as slate gray to black. They were easily size 6 – 8.
Size and color scheme sound about right. They were NOT Hexigina.
Absolutely right. Impossible to mistake the Hex for anything else. Moreover, while I don’t remember just how long they were around, we encountered them when we first left the cottage in the morning, which would have been fairly early (at a cottage on a lake in what we thought of as the north woods nothing…..well, almost nothing…could keep us indoors much past sunrise on a sunny day) and I remember that we stayed inside for the rest of the day, and perhaps even the next. These bugs were active….VERY active….throughout the day. I never found out what they were for sure. In recent years I’ve seen other similar hatches coming off clear Canadian Lakes that were known to be Brown Drakes.
Didn’t you also tell me the last time we talked about them that you thought you had seen them again in the Chicago area…..or am I imagining that? Wolf, keep it as a sweet memory of your youth. Dream about someday being on a stream or lake holding 10 lb. Rainbow when a hatch like that comes off. The fish go wild and you go bonkers. Heaven.
Pretty picture! Somewhat surprisingly, perhaps, I find the thought of finding the hatch again even more appealing than the idea of the monster fish. Wolfgang we need to talk logistics concerning the upcoming trip.
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Wolfgang writes… but I don’t believe there’s any large protected area that would have that kind of soft bottom. Do you know of any such?
That’s true. It was a clean sandy bottom. Not protected. Well washed by the wave action. Vegatation about 30 to 50 yds out from shore. Didn’t you also tell me the last time we talked about them that you thought you had seen them again in the Chicago area…..or am I imagining that?
I don’t think so. You’re imagining. Pretty picture! Somewhat surprisingly, perhaps, I find the thought of finding the hatch again even more appealing than the idea of the monster fish. Wolfgang
I still think they were Brown Drakes. Looked a lot like the picture from the web site Warren posted. But they were 6 & 8 for sure – not 10 & 12. Big guys! I’ll dream of catching 10 lb. rainbow. You dream of being blanketed by a hatch of monster mayflys. we need to talk logistics concerning the upcoming trip.
Let me know the details. Joel Axelrad **DFD**
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Wolfgang asks: Any ideas? ask around among the academic types for someone who knows an entomologist. There are probably very good entomologies online(which may limit access).
I’ve found all kinds of good entomological sites on the web, but all fall short of what would be ideal for this situation. For example, I found a site that has range maps for all known mayfly species within the state of Wisconsin (a USGS site, of all the odd places) but as interesting, and doubtless valuable, this information is, it’s pretty much useless without cross referenced information regarding appearance, habitat, and habit of the target species. Other sites have much of that information, but matching the information on various sites is daunting, to say the least. I have found some references to individual species which sounded promising for one reason or another but in many cases have been unable to find photographs of the bugs in question….and on and on. Consulting an entomologist has occurred to me, but this is neither as easy nor necessarily as promising as it might sound. First, one would necessarily have to find an aquatic entomologist (or at least one with a specific interest in aquatic species…..a fly fisher perhaps). I know of a good aquatic entomologist at UW, Stevens Point but he happens to specialize in plecoptera and, scientific specialties being what they are, this might not help much even if I were trying to identify a stonefly unless he happened to be a taxonomist or have some other reason to be familiar with my target species. People will probably suggest Ephemera and Hexes, but there an awful lot of obscure mayfly species, and lakes have locale specific subspecies you might never encounter unless you blunder on them.
Right, on all counts. Both Ephemera and Isonychia look like good candidates based on photos, but both are questionable on the basis of size. I don’t yet know enough about habit or habitat with regard to either genus. Hexagenia limbata is definitely out for a variety of reasons. As you stated, local subspecies might look and behave a great deal differently than expected for a variety of reasons. Hell, it isn’t even unreasonable to suppose that we might be dealing with a species unknown to science. Granted, it isn’t likely but new species (especially of small and highly localized arthropods) do turn up from time to time. There is also the possibility (admittedly also unlikely) of a known species behaving in an uncharacteristic manner. For example, an uncommon species might suddenly reproduce successfully in undreamed of numbers within a given location due to an unusual and highly beneficial confluence of circumstances. I will venture with the closest I have ever seen. It would be: L(Litobrancha?).Recurvata, which was once classified with the Hexes.
I just looked up Litobrancha. Interestingly, the first hit I looked at was a UW Stevens Point website which contains a list of "AQUATIC INSECTS OF WISCONSIN RECENT SYNONYMS AT SPECIFIC OR HIGHER LEVELS" authored by none other than Stanley W. Szczytko, the aquatic entomologist I mentioned above, and Jeffrey J. Dimick, who used to be (and quite possibly still is) president of a local TU chapter in the area. They list Litobrancha in the "recent taxonomy" column next to Hexagenia (in part) under "prior taxonomy", and Litobrancha recurvata next to Hexagenia recurvata. Looking at another dozen or sites, I have not yet found a photo. I’ll keep working on this one. In PA they are called Dark Green Drakes. They hatch at or into dark, sometimes on real cloudy days, a bit earlier, say 7 PM. They are huge, maybe bigger than the Green Drakes. The bodies are a darkish grey, with rings of paler yellow tan along the abdomen. Wings are a smokey grey, mottled somewhat. They look nasty, as they are a bit heftier in the body(squatter, might be better). Hatched out of a silty pool in Penns one night on Makela and I, fish going silly, no good imitations, massive bugs in mouth and hair, etc.etc. That was in 1993, haven’t seen one since.
Doesn’t sound like my bug. I don’t know when they came off, but they were very active through a bright sunny day. Of course, it must be remembered that I’m basing all of this on memories of an event that occurred more than forty years ago and that I was not much interested in close observation of the bugs at the time. In all likelihood, I’ll never be able to solve this mystery. I thought (and I still do) that my best bet was to put it out here and hope that someone just happens to be familiar with this hatch in this particular place. I think it’s just about time for a brilliant lurker with an encyclopedic knowledge of the Ephemeroptera to show him or herself and demonstrate how pitiful the rest of us really are. Wolfgang thanks tom.
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Well, roughly anyway. Maybe this is it? Late June through mid July – Ephemera Simulans, Brown Drake, this is the most prevalent large mayfly hatch in the Upper Peninsula. Willi
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Well, roughly anyway. My father’s cousin, Sam Friederich, owned a couple acres of land and a cottage (a dacha, as a Russian physicist I recently spoke with, "…not what YOU call a cottage here!" called it) on Kangaroo lake in Door County, Wisconsin. For those not familiar with the area, Door County is the long finger of land which runs to the northeast up into Lake Michigan and thus forms Green Bay to the west. Kangaroo lake, http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=45.0325&lon=-87.15889 was, in the late 1950s, lightly developed. There were a couple of small resorts, a few permanent year round homes, several cottages like the one we frequently stayed at, all of them on the larger, southern section of the lake south of the causeway, and a single very large estate on the island. Whatever organic pollutants entered the lake as a result of human habitation were still minimal at that time. In other words, the water was very clean and the biome had probably changed little since pre-Columbian times. Kangaroo lake was a wonderful place to swim, even for city bred kids like me, as long as one didn’t allow one’s feet to touch the bottom. The lake bed was marl, and thus about as icky a thing to come into contact with as was imagineable….except, of course, for the things that actually LIVED in that oozy bottom! One day all those things that lived in the bottom (although I didn’t realize their origin at the time) came out. The air was filled with bugs. Millions of bugs. Maybe billions of bugs. They were so bold or so crazed or stupid that they would land on anything or anybody. Adult reassurances that they were perfectly harmless fell on deaf ears and neither I nor my brothers or sister could be coaxed to go outside for any reason…..threats and coercion worked, but you get the picture. In the ensuing years, I have often wondered exactly what those bugs were. My interest in fly fishing, running close onto twenty years worth now, makes it easy to say with certainty that they were some variety of mayfly, but I still haven’t been able to identify the species. Discounting them by about thirty percent for temporal magnification and the horror factor still leaves them at a good size eight or even a solid six…..and possibly a bit larger. They were a dark, slate gray to nearly black and, if memory serves after all these years, they were almost certainly duns or sub-imagos….dark, nearly opaque wings. On a couple of occasions in the last two or three years I’ve made occasional efforts to locate resources on line which might solve the mystery for me but have, as yet, had no success. Any ideas? Wolfgang
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