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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Skwala (Large Springfly) Stonefly Nymph Skwala (Large Springfly) Stonefly Nymph

Dorsal view of a Skwala (Perlodidae) (Large Springfly) Stonefly Nymph from the Yakima River in Washington

This Skwala nymph still has a couple months left to go before hatching, but it's still a good representative of its species, which was extremely abundant in my sample for a stonefly of this size. It's obvious why the Yakima is known for its Skwala hatch.

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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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Female Ephemerellidae (Hendricksons, Sulphurs, PMDs, BWOs) Mayfly Dun Pictures

I've tentatively called this fragile, highly damaged dun a Serratella species. I had much better pictures of the species but lost them. It's about size 22, but good-sized trout were rising to this hatch; I suspect it has to do with the solid profile shown by the dark, almost-black wings that have given this hatch the name "Darth Vaders" among some Wisconsin anglers.

This mayfly was collected from unknown in Wisconsin on July 14th, 2004 and added to Troutnut.com by Troutnut on January 25th, 2006.

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