Swimmers vs. Crawlers vs. Clingers vs. Burrowers

Paul Weamer in Fly Fisherman 2014-10
c.f. Vince Marinaro called selectivity the "game of nods" in his book "In the Ring of the Rise"

23 mayfly families in North America with 106 genera

Purdue University Mayfly Central for scientific names

life domain kingdom phylum class order family genus species
species (abbreviated sp., with the plural form species abbreviated spp.)
genera is plural of genus

Swimmers

CDC and snowshoe emergers with trailing shucks tied on curved fine-wire hooks
"The way a curved hook curls a brown Darlon or Antron shuck beneath the surface, while keeping the wing and some of the body above the water, is just the ideal imitation of the natural."
difficult emergences as they struggle to flee their nymphal shucks

Baetidae Family [often emerge just below surface] includes
Little Blue-winged Olives (Baetis genera) appear on rainy days in large numbers creating surface feeding frenzy just beneath surface; often cold wet weather at beginning and end of season; live near weed beds
and
?also Little Blue-winged Olives? Acentrella genera
Not Baetidae Family swimmers
Gray Drakes (Siphlonurus sp.) - can be found in riffles
Slate Drakes (Isonychia sp.) - can be found in riffles - often emerge on streamside rocks, ?hatch in spring and fall?, Weamer thinks they hatch in river too

 

Crawlers

Comparaduns which have slim profile as Duns usually in pools where fish examine closely
can be tied with trailing shuck (Sparkle Dun) to imitate emergers
males hatch middle of night, but females hatch in morning - fish flat pool below riffle

many of Ephemerellidae, Leptohyphidae, Leptophlebiidae families
Hendricksons, Sulphurs and Cornuta Blue-winged Olives
Leptohyphidae family best known for Tricos (Tricorythodes spp.) which collect in flat pools so more time for fish to examine fly
Leptophlebiidae family includes Black Quills (Leptophlebia sp.) and various Blue Quills (Paraleptophelebia species)

live in varied habitats from edges of riffles to slow pools
most migrate to slower water before emgerging
ride surface currents for extended period, sending them to pools even after emerging from the edges of riffles

 

Clingers

Catskill style or Thorax patterns
stand high on their hacles and tails with their bodies above the water
can skitter them to look like insects trying to fly
fish often feed on duns in riffles

emerge underwater then swim to surface
usually live in gravelly stretches of moderate to fast moving water but can be in calmer currents
some emerge near surface, some (e.g. most Epeorus genus) emerge on stream bottom and swim to the surface as duns
free from nymphal shucks when they reach surface they usually fly off quickly (so usually no trailing shuck on pattern)

Heptageniidae family of clingers
Cahill genera: Epeorus, Heptagenia, Maccaffertium, Stenacron, Stenonema

Pink Cahill (Epeorus vitreus)
Eastern (March Browns) Macaffertium vicarium

 

Burrowers

parachute with trailing shuck
Darlon or Antron trailing shuck imitates nymph case that fils with air and floats

oftten have a hard time escaping nymphal exoskeletons

larges Mayfliest; typically emerge last hour of daylight, early in the morning or at night but sometimes cloudy days or shaded areas
most burrowers are Ephemeridae family that includes
Eastern Green Drakes (E. guttulata),
Dark Green Drakes (L. recurvatat) and
Yellow Drakes (E. varia) and
all Hexagenias;
Brown Drakes (Ephemera simulans) - fish during daylight with parachute with trailing shuck but after dark hard to see so use oversize Wulff and Catskill style flies
other burrowers
White Flies (Polymitaryidae family Ephoron sp.) and
Golden Drakes (Potamanthidae family Anthopotamus sp.)