Lateral view of a Female Hexagenia limbata (Ephemeridae) (Hex) Mayfly Dun from the Namekagon River in Wisconsin

Hex Mayflies
Hexagenia limbata

The famous nocturnal Hex hatch of the Midwest (and a few other lucky locations) stirs to the surface mythically large brown trout that only touch streamers for the rest of the year.

Stream photos

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Glossosoma (Little Brown Short-horned Sedge) Caddisfly Larva Glossosoma (Little Brown Short-horned Sedge) Caddisfly Larva

Dorsal view of a Glossosoma (Glossosomatidae) (Little Brown Short-horned Sedge) Caddisfly Larva from the Yakima River in Washington

I caught this tiny larva without a case, but it seems to key pretty clearly to to Glossosomatidae. From there, the lack of sclerites on the mesonotum points to either Glossosoma or Anagapetus. Although it's difficult to see in a 2D image from the microscope, it's pretty clear in the live 3D view that the pronotum is only excised about 1/3 of its length to accommodate the forecoxa, not 2/3, which points to Glossosoma at Couplet 5 of the Key to Genera of Glossosomatidae Larvae.

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27" brown trout, my largest ever. It was the sub-dominant fish in its pool. After this, I hooked the bigger one, but I couldn't land it.

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Brachycentrus americanus (American Grannom) Caddisfly Larva Pictures

Both the genus ID (Merritt & Cummins) and species ID (Flint 1984) are pretty confident for this larva, a nice example of a common western caddisfly. It was by far the most abundant insect in my kicknet sample on this trip, and many of the rocks in the fast riffle where I sampled had dozens of these larvae clinging on.