Winston Field Notes: Baetis
I trudged up to the top of the bench above the seeps and springs along one of my favorite spots on the Madison River. I wanted to check the osprey nest atop a snag in a dead aspen tree to see if the pair that nest there every spring had returned. I knew from past late April days struggling through the rocks and boulders to inspect the eyrie, that if the birds had arrived so would Baetis (BWO) mayflies be found emerging on the river below. Their emergences herald the arrival of a new dry-fly fishing season on most of Montana’s rivers.
