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.
This one was surprisingly straightforward to identify. The lack of a sclerite at the base of the lateral hump narrows the field quite a bit, and the other options followed fairly obvious characteristics to Clostoeca, which only has one species, Clostoeca disjuncta.
Back before I started my first real field season as a graduate student working on Chinook salmon in the Chena River, I took a fun personal trip up to the North Fork just after ice-out (yes, the ice breaks up that late here!) to collect some Alaskan insects to photograph for the site.
Troutnut on Apr 26, 2011April 26th, 2011, 5:28 pm EDT
Anyone want to help ID these bugs? I haven't had time to take a close look at them or run through any keys, but I'm sure some of you will know a more specific classification for some of these.
Jason Neuswanger, Ph.D.
Troutnut and salmonid ecologist