Nymph Salad

[cromero68]

Originally Posted by RnF

Damn, that's a lot of critters. Really cool shot!

Thanks, now what did you use on the fly to catch that 5 lb. kittie that is on your web site?

[RnF]

Originally Posted by cromero68

Thanks, now what did you use on the fly to catch that 5 lb. kittie that is on your web site?

Ha! You dragged it out of me. Here's a used version of it, running a bit low on them.



I call it the "olive creeper". Strip it slow and steady.

Body is Dark Olive Micro Pearl Core Braid, made by Hareline.

[Taxon]

I've never seen nor heard of anything like that. To start with, aquatic invertebrates are obviously there in that number, or you couldn't have scooped them up. However, the puzzlement is why they weren't hidden from view beneath stones, etc. If this were predominantly one species of aquatic insect, I suppose one would assume it was behavioral drift. However, it appears that there are multiple insect orders involved. The other thought that comes to mind is that, perhaps they were highly stressed by some event, like high temperature, low oxygen, poisoning, etc.

Roger Rohrbeck
www.FlyfishingEntomology.com

[cromero68]

Originally Posted by Taxon

I've never seen nor heard of anything like that. To start with, aquatic invertebrates are obviously there in that number, or you couldn't have scooped them up. However, the puzzlement is why they weren't hidden from view beneath stones, etc. If this were predominantly one species of aquatic insect, I suppose one would assume it was behavioral drift. However, it appears that there are multiple insect orders involved. The other thought that comes to mind is that, perhaps they were highly stressed by some event, like high temperature, low oxygen, poisoning, etc.

Roger Rohrbeck
www.FlyfishingEntomology.com

I think they might have been stressed by the sudden uprise in summer air temps that we have had in the last few days! Tomorrow is supposed to be over 100 deg. Last week it was only in the upper 80's-mid 90's. I would suppose that the high air temps caused a sudden drop in water temps due to sudden high mountain snow melt as some of the insects were moving and some were lethargic, but most seemed dead. There were lots of small orange caddis hopping on the water surface. I was really weirded out by this event as what is typical with sudden snow melt from high temps leads to a rise in water levels and elevated flow volumes, which was not present as I have frequented this same small area three times in the last week. There is no evidence of runoff blow out as the beaver activity (wood jams and dams) and sand bars has not changed in appearance. Also, the water was very, very cold! I doubt it was poisoning as this is a primary water shed that provides culinary water to the greater Salt Lake area and the systems in place would have caught that immediately.

Questions, Questions!?!?!?!?

I would like to participate in any biology if anyone has connections within this area of study who would be interested in further research.

Here are some more pics...











Keep in mind that these conditions were here all afternoon during sunlight, even though most of the pics shown were after sundown.

[cromero68]

Originally Posted by RnF

Ha! You dragged it out of me. Here's a used version of it, running a bit low on them.



I call it the "olive creeper". Strip it slow and steady.

Body is Dark Olive Micro Pearl Core Braid, made by Hareline.

I would like some, Hows about you host a kitty fly swap! I will be the first to join!

[Ty1on]

I went up and took a look. Pockets of these bugs at various spots on the river. All were dead. I tried to get some samples of live ones. I could not find a live bug anywhere. I Searched and kick netted, looked through moss and dead wood, under rocks and did everything I do to get live samples. Nothing. I have never seen anything like this before. Hoping there is enough lives ones to keep this piece of the river alive. I did see fish close to these pockets and and all appear healthy. Yes, the water was cold. I am thinking that the high water run off was so violent during the melt that the river bottom really got churned up. The collections of bugs were the result of the flush. Thanks for the report. Something surely different.