America's Dark Blue Sedge - Video is Awesome!

Philip J. Mancini

When I attended the Somerset Fly Tying Symposium at New Jersey last November, I had a golden opportunity to meet a lot of great people, fly tyers and fly anglers. One was Philip Mancini, a young family man who loves the arts, his fishing and his fly tying.

Philip J. Mancini, aka Fishin' Musician, is a Professional musician and storyteller, fly fisherman and fly tyer from Northeastern Pennsylvania. As a musician and storyteller, Philip performs for weddings, private parties, banquets, special events and the like. His Fishin' Musician presentations encompass music, photography and stories. He is a multi-instrumentalist who will bring a memorable experience to your event with music, spokenword and photography. You can learn more at Philip's website and comments and questions are welcome - www.LoveTheArts.com or contact him at LoveTheArts@verizon.net.

Philip and I have a common interest in the food forms that attract the attention of Old Speckles and if you follow the link at the end of this post, you will see an amazing video of a Dark Blue Sedge hatch that Philip captured in his home "bug tank" (aquarium). But I will let him tell you in his own words:

The Dark Blue Sedge - Psilotreta
This video was taken in my "Bug Tank" at 5am, one Friday morning. As I was preparing my wife's coffee and my morning tea, I walked into my study to a racket of fluttering wings coming from my bug tank. You may ask, "A bug tank?" Yes, I keep a bug tank in my study. I use it to observe insects for photography and study. I took video of this event for an hour, as the evening's hatch was winding down and have created this video presentation for my speaking engagements and your enjoyment.

The Psilotreta is a well known hatch in the eastern United States and happens around the same time as our famous Green Drake Ephemera guttulata hatch, mid May through June. Both have peak emergences at dusk to early evening. The larvae have a two year cycle, are cased in a small rock and mineral case, burrow into the silt or gravel and are size 8-10. Their body colour is green with a black head having two dark red stripes.

The Cased Larva of the Dark Blue Sedge

Pupae are size 12-14, have a green body and swim to the surface to hatch.

Dark Blue Sedge Nymph

As adults, their body is greyer in colour; the male has some green in the abdomen. The females will fly upstream skipping off the water until they are ready to drop their dark green egg sac - when they land to release it. As adults, their size is 12-14.

Dark Blue Sedge Wet
All photography & flies by Philip Mancini

LINK TO VIDEO

I've got to tell you this, I have watched it a number of times and I can't help get over the amount of false runs these caddis make towards the surface to escape out into our world! I hope you enjoy the show.
Mick