This is the best Spring hatch after the Quill Gordons (Epeorus pleuralis) but before the Hendricksons (Ephemerella subvaria) in most parts of the East, although it can overlap with both. The Blue Quills are small mayflies (hook size 16-20) but they can hatch in incredible numbers at a time when eager trout are just beginning to look to the surface after a hungry winter. Where & When
» Species adoptiva (Blue Quill)
Regions:The hatch begins in early April in the southern Appalachians. By late April or early May it is in Pennsylvania, and it peaks in the Catskills in early May. By late May it has moved into the Upper Midwest and the Adirondacks, where it may linger through early June. The peak hatching lasts nearly a week in most places.
East, MidwestTime Of Year (?):
April through early June
One source, Mayflies of Michigan Trout Streams, says the hatch may last until July 8th, but I have found no other accounts of such late adoptiva hatches.Hatching Behavior
Time Of Day (?):Caucci and Nastasi in Hatches II say that trout feed exceptionally well on these nymphs during the hatch, and they recommend fishing nymph imitations (both deep and floating) with an upstream dead-drift (Dead-drift: The manner in which a fly drifts on the water when not moving by itself or by the influence of a line. Trout often prefer dead-drifting prey and imitating the dead-drift in tricky currents is a major challenge of fly fishing.). However, the duns should not be ignored, because they may ride the surface for a long time before flying away.
Late morning through afternoon, peaking at middayWater Temperature:
The hatch can be strongest on cold, dark, even snowy days.Spinner Behavior
Time Of Day: MiddayThe females oviposit by repeatedly diving and dipping the tips of their abdomens into the water.
The first spinners appear a few days after the first duns, and they may persist for up to a week after the duns are done emerging.Nymph BiologyCurrent Speed: Medium is best; slow is good; slow microhabitat in fast stretches are okay
Substrate: Gravel, detritus (Detritus: Small, loose pieces of decaying organic matter underwater.)
Pictures of 2 Mayfly Specimens in the Species Paraleptophlebia adoptiva:
Male Paraleptophlebia adoptiva (Blue Quill) Mayfly Spinner
View 7 PicturesBased on the pale longitudinal forewing veins (excepting the costals), dark middle terga (Tergum: the dorsal part of an abdominal segment or segments (terga). Also used to describe the entire abdominal dorsum or the thoracic dorsal segments of Odonata.), and genitalia (Burks '53), this specimen is P. adoptiva.
1 Streamside Picture of Paraleptophlebia adoptiva Mayflies:
Date AddedMay 3, 2007
CameraPENTAX Optio WPi
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