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.

The "Fountain Flats" stretch of the Firehole was fishable in the morning after an uncharacteristically cold August night.

From the Firehole River in Wyoming

Stream photos

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Onocosmoecus (Great Late-Summer Sedge) Caddisfly Larva Onocosmoecus (Great Late-Summer Sedge) Caddisfly Larva

Lateral view of a Onocosmoecus (Limnephilidae) (Great Late-Summer Sedge) Caddisfly Larva from the Yakima River in Washington

This specimen keys pretty easily to Onocosmoecus, and it closely resembles a specimen from Alaska which caddis expert Dave Ruiter recognized as this genus. As with that specimen, the only species in the genus documented in this area is Onocosmoecus unicolor, but Dave suggested for that specimen that there might be multiple not-yet-distinguished species under the unicolor umbrella and it would be best to stick with the genus-level ID. I'm doing the same for this one.

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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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Male Callibaetis ferrugineus (Speckled Dun) Mayfly Spinner Pictures

This is one of four specimens I photographed together from the same hatch, also including a nymph, a male dun, and a female dun. According to the key in Check (1982), the clear wing venation on the associated dun shows that it is either Callibaetis ferrugineous or Callibaetis pallidus, and the characteristics to tell the difference between those two are maddening for both the nymph and adult. If the partial shading in the wing is "medium to dark brown," and the dots on the body are "fuscous to dark brown," then it's ferrugineous. If the wing shading is "chestnut brown" and dots on the body are "yellowish to chestnut brown," then it's pallidus. However, several spare specimens I collected alongside the one in the photo have no markings on the wing at all, which would seemingly indicate ferrugineous according to the key. It's enough for a contingent ID, but I still wouldn't rule out pallidus.