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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Hydropsyche (Spotted Sedge) Caddisfly Larva Hydropsyche (Spotted Sedge) Caddisfly Larva

Ventral view of a Hydropsyche (Hydropsychidae) (Spotted Sedge) Caddisfly Larva from the Yakima River in Washington

With a bit of help from the microscope, this specimen keys clearly and unsurprisingly to Hydropsyche.

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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.

Troutnut is a project started in 2003 by salmonid ecologist Jason "Troutnut" Neuswanger to help anglers and fly tyers unabashedly embrace the entomological side of the sport. Learn more about Troutnut or support the project for an enhanced experience here.

Male Stictochironomus Midge Adult Pictures

This midge and several like it, including a female I also photographed, hatched from larvae which were living in some fine mud I'm using as substrate in my bug-rearing aquarium.

Male Stictochironomus (Chironomidae) Midge Adult from Mystery Creek #62 in New York

Ventral view of a Male Stictochironomus (Chironomidae) Midge Adult from Mystery Creek #62 in New York

Lateral view of a Male Stictochironomus (Chironomidae) Midge Adult from Mystery Creek #62 in New York

Ruler view of a Male Stictochironomus (Chironomidae) Midge Adult from Mystery Creek #62 in New York The smallest ruler marks are 1 mm.

This midge was collected from Mystery Creek #62 in New York on April 10th, 2007 and added to Troutnut.com by Troutnut on April 10th, 2007.

Discussions of this Adult

chironomids-East versus West

3 replies

Posted by Joec on Mar 21, 2008

Last reply on Aug 12, 2012 by Taxon

Spring can't arrive soon enough...after ice-out streamer fishing and before the high water levels on moving water venues become more reasonable, I love to fish chironomid imitations in ponds. In ponds containing few forage fish, this begins before the ice goes out entirely. My question is simple: why are chironomid species in the East so much smaller than out West? I have fished the Kamloops area of BC which is, of course, world renown for huge (size and quantity)chironomid hatches and the difference is unbelievable. I suspect it has to do with lack of fertility in my home waters, still or otherwise. Can anyone help?

First spoils of my bug-rearing aquarium

19 replies

Posted by Troutnut on Apr 10, 2007

Last reply on Jan 20, 2008 by Troutnut

I returned from a weekend out of town to find that several midges had emerged from my bug-rearing aquarium. I never specifically put them in it in the first place; apparently, they were embedded in the river silt I used as the substrate for part of it.

I'm pretty sure this one and the other specimen belong to the same species, and I'm guessing the variation in antennae form is a gender difference. It's kinda neat. The antennae on the male seem to be made to be imitated with CDC, except that they're about 100 times too small.

In fact, from the ruler picture, you can see that the whole body of this midge is thinner than a size 18 dry fly hook. I'm not sure how a griffith's gnat is supposed to imitate such a thing.

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