Caënis - Anglers' Curse

The smallest of British upwinged flies, the Caënis flies are often referred to as the angler's curse. Caënis nymphs crawl among the silt and detritus on the river or lake bed, and they are often covered it bits of debris that act as camouflage.

Dun

There are six species, all very similar. Some emerge in the mornings and others around dusk.

The nymphs crawl among silt on slow flowing stretches of rivers and in the shallow areas of most kinds of stillwaters.

Spinner

Caënis spinners are generally very similar to the duns, but their tails are longer and their wings more transparent.

At times there can be so many Caënis emerging as duns and returning to the water as spinners that flyfishers find it hopeless trying to tempt trout with a matching imitation. However, during relatively sparse hatches a small, cream-coloured fly will sometimes do the trick. 

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Footnote: Caënis is often written simply as Caenis (without the accent on the e) but as this is the scientific name given to a genus the capitalised form Caenis is used rather than caenis.

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