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.
Featured on the forum
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.
A few little site improvements
By Troutnut on April 26th, 2011, 4:54 am EDT
I've just finished moving Troutnut.com over to different servers where it should run faster, changing a few little graphics, and setting the width to take advantage of wider screens. The site looks best in either Internet Explorer 9 or a good browser like Firefox. Internet Explorer 7 and 8 should work, but you won't see everything just right.
And I'm making one really big change: opening up the main site to other contributors! I'm just too busy finishing my Ph.D. to do much of anything here, and some excellent photographers and writers have volunteered to help out. I won't turn the site into a free-for-all, but these hand-picked contributors you'll be meeting soon have as much to add to it as I do. If you're interested in becoming one--which means having all your work featured here on the front page and throughout the site--then email me some try-out photos at jason@troutnut.com and tell me about yourself. I'm especially looking for help adding western insects and river pictures to the site, since I haven't been lucky enough to fish and photograph that region yet myself (Alaska excluded).
In some other small but noteworthy changes, we've taken some of the information that was already on the site, but hidden or poorly organized, and made it available to everyone. These include:
There are some tweaks to the forum, too! Check it out.
And I'm making one really big change: opening up the main site to other contributors! I'm just too busy finishing my Ph.D. to do much of anything here, and some excellent photographers and writers have volunteered to help out. I won't turn the site into a free-for-all, but these hand-picked contributors you'll be meeting soon have as much to add to it as I do. If you're interested in becoming one--which means having all your work featured here on the front page and throughout the site--then email me some try-out photos at jason@troutnut.com and tell me about yourself. I'm especially looking for help adding western insects and river pictures to the site, since I haven't been lucky enough to fish and photograph that region yet myself (Alaska excluded).
In some other small but noteworthy changes, we've taken some of the information that was already on the site, but hidden or poorly organized, and made it available to everyone. These include:
- I've changed the front page of the site into a blog that features the latest site updates and (like this, and more in the future) conventional blog posts.
- I've added a Trout Streams & Rivers section to the menu, where you can browse all the pictures on this site by location, except for pictures of big trout in places where the big trout might be somewhat secret. Of course, I had to all-out censor a few locations -- some of my "Mystery Creeks" are too delicate to reveal, as they're the kinds of places where seeing someone else's week-old footstep makes you feel crowded.
- There's a "scientific name search" box in the top left, where you can instantly jump to an insect's page if you know its scientific name. It's the fastest way to get around the insect encyclopedia.
There are some tweaks to the forum, too! Check it out.
Updates from March 20, 2011
Closeup insects by Entoman from the Lower Yuba River in California
Habitat: Shallow riffle over cobble; approx. 1 ft. deep
Size: 8.5 mm. Mature specimens have been captured as large as 10.5 mm.
Emergence schedule: Variable - starting as early as mid March and lasting as late as early June, depending on the year. Usual duration is at least several weeks or more.
Dun Association: Body is elusive pale creamy yellow w/ orange highlights, cream legs and tails, and dun wings
Specimen status in photo: Preserved
Collection method: Kick net
Comments: Extremely common in samples taken from this location. It's color in life was very close to as depicted in the photo; except for the gradual darkening of the abdominal segments as they progress posteriorly, which has been accentuated somewhat by the effects of preservation. Adult association is based upon capture of this taxon at various stages of emergence including: darkened wingcases, split thoraxic notums, and partially ecloded or ''stillborn'' specimens.
Entoman
Size: 8.5 mm. Mature specimens have been captured as large as 10.5 mm.
Emergence schedule: Variable - starting as early as mid March and lasting as late as early June, depending on the year. Usual duration is at least several weeks or more.
Dun Association: Body is elusive pale creamy yellow w/ orange highlights, cream legs and tails, and dun wings
Specimen status in photo: Preserved
Collection method: Kick net
Comments: Extremely common in samples taken from this location. It's color in life was very close to as depicted in the photo; except for the gradual darkening of the abdominal segments as they progress posteriorly, which has been accentuated somewhat by the effects of preservation. Adult association is based upon capture of this taxon at various stages of emergence including: darkened wingcases, split thoraxic notums, and partially ecloded or ''stillborn'' specimens.
Entoman
Size - (excluding tails) - 10 mm
Status at time of photo - preserved but no discernible color change as specimen was captured only a few days earlier.
Key characters - unique pattern on dorsal head and thorax; dark medial terga stripe between two paler stripes
This species is very common in west slope north Sierra watersheds. Richard W. Baumann & Boris C. Kondratieff did a study on the same section and at the same time of year (APRIL 25-29, 2010) where this specimen was taken. No other species of Isoperla were reported from this location and quinquepunctata was very abundant. Their hatches can be very heavy some Springs.
Entoman
Status at time of photo - preserved but no discernible color change as specimen was captured only a few days earlier.
Key characters - unique pattern on dorsal head and thorax; dark medial terga stripe between two paler stripes
This species is very common in west slope north Sierra watersheds. Richard W. Baumann & Boris C. Kondratieff did a study on the same section and at the same time of year (APRIL 25-29, 2010) where this specimen was taken. No other species of Isoperla were reported from this location and quinquepunctata was very abundant. Their hatches can be very heavy some Springs.
Entoman
Updates from March 8, 2011
Closeup insects by Entoman from the Lower Yuba River in California
Size - 14 mm
Condition - preserved
Habitat - cobble bottom, moderate flow run, at a depth of approx. 1 1/2 feet.
Key Characters - pair of large prosternal sclerites
This is a very common taxon at this location. I collected using a kick net. In life, it is bright olive green ventrally, shading to a dull olive at its dorsal abdominal surfaces. In the hand, the legs, thoraxic regions, and head appear medium chocolate brown. The stark contrast of the thoraxic plate's dark edges and light legs are effects of preserving. The plumouse anal hooks were duck down gray, not the color of the gills as appears in the preserved specimen.
The Lower Yuba River is a good habitat for this species, being a larger river with an open canopy. The Feather River just to the north of the Yuba system also finds H. californica in abundance. The other common Hydropsyche species in the area, Hydropsyche occidentalis, seems to prefer smaller, shaded streams.
Entoman
Condition - preserved
Habitat - cobble bottom, moderate flow run, at a depth of approx. 1 1/2 feet.
Key Characters - pair of large prosternal sclerites
This is a very common taxon at this location. I collected using a kick net. In life, it is bright olive green ventrally, shading to a dull olive at its dorsal abdominal surfaces. In the hand, the legs, thoraxic regions, and head appear medium chocolate brown. The stark contrast of the thoraxic plate's dark edges and light legs are effects of preserving. The plumouse anal hooks were duck down gray, not the color of the gills as appears in the preserved specimen.
The Lower Yuba River is a good habitat for this species, being a larger river with an open canopy. The Feather River just to the north of the Yuba system also finds H. californica in abundance. The other common Hydropsyche species in the area, Hydropsyche occidentalis, seems to prefer smaller, shaded streams.
Entoman
Updates from March 2, 2011
Closeup insects by Entoman from the Lower Yuba River in California
Size - (excluding tails) - 12 mm
Status at time of photo - preserved, but photographed within days of capture.
W. C. Day, Aquatic Insects of California differentiates morrisoni nymphs by submedian pale dots on tergites 8 & 9, which look to be in evidence. This is one of the "super-hatches" on this river that can be prolific March through April.
Entoman
Status at time of photo - preserved, but photographed within days of capture.
W. C. Day, Aquatic Insects of California differentiates morrisoni nymphs by submedian pale dots on tergites 8 & 9, which look to be in evidence. This is one of the "super-hatches" on this river that can be prolific March through April.
Entoman