Blue Wing Olive-Baetis mayfly-BWO

This is a small cold weather/cold water mayfly that is an #18 or smaller.

On cold cloudy/foggy overcast humid days you will see them comming off on many low elevation rivers/streams.

Most smaller steelhead and trout will work these hatches.

They are usually big smooth slicks.

This could be on any of our Valley rivers.

Look for them mid-day on the Lower American River all winter.

They will be on the lower Yuba, Feather, Sac, Trinity......most all have them at times.

You can use a #18 Adams Paradun with 6x tippet. There are patterns just for this insect too.

This is a bug that is found early and late season or on very cold streams.

There is some confussion about the exact identity of these little mayflies but in general we try to match the size and then the color of the belly. Most time our bugs are too big.

If you need a real trout fishing dry fly fix this winter be prepared and go look for this 'happening'.

Bill, Aren't you supposed to take some kind of macro-closeup picture of one of these critters and then have us guess what it is?

You've given us all the answers but I'd like to see one for real.

I have been seeing some really small blue-ish white little things flying around but have no idea what they are.

Earlier this summer there was a fantastic trico hatch where I've been taking folks for salmon and the resident trout were really gorging on them. Kind of made me want to bring a 4 weight and put the 9w. down for a while.
TONY

saw a few coming off the water yesterday, not so many though. Very small, probably an #18 to a #20.

Jeff

In a good little article in a magazine once a fly fishing guide said he just like to pick up those little mayflies and turn them over and see what color their bellys are. He said that is what the fish sees.

Most of us use flies that are physically bigger than the adult insect. You can tell during a big hatch when your 'bug' looks bigger than the naturals.

I actually try to fish the time of the year and time of the day when insects are hatching so I can dry fly fish and 'match the hatch'.

We will have to get out on the Valley river in February if we don't have flooding and fish some of these little insects to working fish.