Chopaka callibaetis

[dryflylarry]

I fished Chopaka a couple of weeks ago, had fair success one day, then the weather blew me off. However, my question is whether the mayfly I saw were callibaetis. They didn't exactly match my pattern I tied from John Shewey's book I have. My pattern had a dark dun tails and speckled wing imitation. The mayfly I saw had two "white" tails, clear wing, and tan/grey body with sort of a rusty little head. Too bad I had to leave after discovering that. Can anyone confirm what I saw as callibaetis? Are there alot of different species around here? Thanks.:dunno

[Almost Dun]

Sounds like a perfect description of a male callibaetis spinner according to the Hatch Guide for Western Streams. I was at Chopoka about 3 weeks ago and saw a lot of them also, although the duns were scarce and the normal 1-2 PM hatch was poor.

[troutman101]

Agreed. The mayfly was a Callibaetis spinner. The same fly is found on local lakes as well. When I was learning about bugs as a kid, my first stillwater rise was to the same mayfly. I tied it myself and I landed a nice 16" rainbow on Rattlesnake Lake before it was stocked with triploids.