One of the most important things to a choosy trout is the one thing my close-up pictures can't show: motion. Fly tyers imitate motion by using lively materials, and fly anglers imitate it with subtle rod-work, but both need to understand how the real critters move.
Most of these were shot long ago with an ancient digital camera, but I'll be adding higher-quality material this year.
It's remarkable what thick hatches, and especially spinner flights, can come from a species few anglers have ever heard of. The genus Cinygmula is thought to produce unremarkable spinner flights, but this one would certainly have gotten the trout going if it weren't happening just before dark on a small stream where there isn't a lot of nocturnal feeding.