Blue winged olive thread

[Former member 2]

As the Mayfly thread got some lovely shots and brought up some unknown facts to me.. I Thought we could try it again with the latest fly of the moment that sends the trout wild; The Blue Winged Olive. Serratella ignita.
(corrected from Ephemerella ignata).



Blue winged olive female dun



If you have any shots male dun/ spinner female dun as above?( only better with all three tails showing) and sherry spinner. The eggs.
And info about their habits;
Do you know where they drop thier eggs on your river...( not the egg laying , unless your very good!) but the site they migrate upstream to? Please photograph it.
Favorite patterns, pictures of the flies and patterns etc etc . How bigs your hatch is this year?
Do you have different names in your region for this fly?

Does anyone get E. notata can we have shots of that too please.

This is the thread for all things BWO(S. ignata) and Yellow Evening(E. notata).

[Buzz]

I have just been thinking about the BWO after seeing them yesterday and again tonight on a different river. I then came in and read Paul Proctors piece in Trout and Salmon.
What size are they were you are , PP ties them on a size 14?
The BWO on the rivers i have been on of recent are no bigger that an 18.
Have i got the wrong species? If so what looks like the above fly only smaller
Oh, great pictures WP

[Former member 2]

I will make it my quest to measure one tomorrow.

I would guess that lady was 1cm so a 14 to 16 depending on the hook pattern for our water. The most notable thing was the really thick milky grey blue of the wings. Thats no trick of the light.
Some one had a thread about blue dun feathers and being like woodpigeon colour, well for the blue dun hackles I have it will be a great match.

As for the size difference, I for one have no idea.

[Buzz]

We have a deal, i will collect some tomorrow and compare notes/measurements

[madjoni]

Originally Posted by whingingpom

I will make it my quest to measure one tomorrow.

I would guess that lady was 1cm so a 14 to 16 depending on the hook pattern for our water. The most notable thing was the really thick milky grey blue of the wings. Thats no trick of the light.
Some one had a thread about blue dun feathers and being like woodpigeon colour, well for the blue dun hackles I have it will be a great match.

As for the size difference, I for one have no idea.

here it is size 14,a bit bigger ...but this fly means nothing in summer fishing on our southern rivers.....up north they rule

[oldbull]

Since about 1995 Ephemerella ignita has been known as Serratella ignita.
Here's a mature male dun.


I’ve removed this image because of unauthorised use after it had been downloaded from the forum – all my images bear a copy-right signature so they clearly should not be used without having first obtained permission. I’m disappointed to have to do this but feel I don’t have much option.


OB

[Former member 2]

Right I will correct the scientific name at the top in case anyone in future uses this for reference.
I have Just contacted some one in south yorkshire who says thiers are 8-10mm and a size 16 and apparantly further north in the lands of an esteemed river fisher and insect imitator ( e.g realistic flies) they are 6-8mm and a size 18.
Now this has to be a dietry doesnt it? Could it be richer food, or a longer feeding period?
Which leads to a second question: Percieved wisdom was that the eggs were dormant and then hatched after winter, hence why us river monitors arent seeing them in the late season counts or are mistaking them for caenis in the smaller sizes. Do some populations hatch eggs prior to winter so the growth period is longer?
Do any other people doing kick sampling find them absent or near impossible to define in late season samples?

Also are you seeing the hatches on your rivers? And do they match up to the numbers of sherry spinners seen later. Modern wisdom seems to be that the main hatches in huge numbers are an hour or two after dark , and day time hatches just the late stragglers.... does your river system seem to contradict this?

And back to the issue of egg laying, what I am trying to find out is what sort of water? Riffle, glossy or fully broken how would you describe the area they are choosing to deposit they're Eggs

[Former member 2]

Serratella ignita male spinner
The above shot shoes only two tails one is hidden, the shot below has all three. I spent the evening trying to find where the girls where laying their eggballs.
So has anyone got any good sherry spinner patterns they want to share with us?
Buzz I have some sample bottles here to work through and i will give you the exact measurement for our stream in the east midlands.

[madjoni]

Not to good photos but here it is from one atribut of lower part of Zeta river....this fellow is small,i must corect my self,this is size 16 or even smaller...they are bigger at Zeta, upper course







And here is jungle with fig trees where i saw zilions of them

[Buzz]

Originally Posted by whingingpom

I have Just contacted some one in south yorkshire who says thiers are 8-10mm and a size 16 and apparantly further north they are 6-8mm and a size 18.
Now this has to be a dietry doesnt it? Could it be richer food, or a longer feeding period?

WP
Thanks v much for going to that extra effort, i am not anywhere near as knowledgeable as you on entomology so the information you have gathered goes to confirm my practical experience and suspicions.

As for the size issue i think the fly life up in the barren north as a rule is smaller in general, i always put it down to shorter growing seasons because all joking aside its colder here for longer. I doubt its the food, i have always assumed perhaps incorrectly many of our waters are far less urban and i would therefore assume be less polluted albeit they often do run through agricultural land which is not fenced off and therefore suffers from the pesticides and chemical run off from farm land.

I keep harping on about this but regional variation is good IMO, I would be interested to know in general what influences this more than the distance. The local example for me is the difference between the Clyde and the Tweed which are only 20 mins apart yet have different hatches which again can be of differencing sizes and tones. Just as a general comment flyfishwithme (Phil) commented on his last visit how many of our flies had a yellow tinge?

Currently the majority of our fly life is wee yellow olives (!) whether it be Sulfers of some description or Pale Wateries, the BWO are just starting and are definitely in the minority.