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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Sweltsa (Sallfly) Stonefly Nymph Sweltsa (Sallfly) Stonefly Nymph

Dorsal view of a Sweltsa (Chloroperlidae) (Sallfly) Stonefly Nymph from the Yakima River in Washington

This species was fairly abundant in a February sample of the upper Yakima.

10 Recently Added Photos

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.

My latest work project, and this is only part 1

Jmd123 has attached these 20 pictures. The message is below.

Beaver pond in upper section of stream - had lowest diversity, loads of midges & worms, beaver poop!

"Do you realize that you have an unregistered nuclear reactor on your back?" (from the original Ghostbusters)

Sorting them out...we caught a total of 283 fish! From tiny minnows to suckers almost 10" long...

Moving upstream, a good shot of the general habitat

Not big or deep water, yet loaded with life

Crown densiometer, for measuring canopy cover

Mike Osier, our main GPS guy, standing on the dam that will be removed or repaired

Dana, our UXO (unexploded ordnance!) guide, who made sure we didn't get blown up from old munitions (we saw duds!)

Getting the gear together in the morning

Lauren, our Environmental Scientist, looking fresh and beautiful before she goes out and gets all dirty & sweaty & etc. in the field

Jmd123

Oscoda, MI

Posts: 2474

Jmd123 on Mar 2, 2021March 2nd, 2021, 4:15 am EST

Well, Affiliated Researchers was awarded a stream evaluation project in support of a possible dam removal on an old military reservation in southern Indiana (the report is not yet public so no more specific location details are given). We conducted the first phase of the field work last October, collecting data on water quality and stream habitat, as well as electroshocking for fish (all released) and collecting benthic macroinvertebrate samples. Well, we found 81 identifiable genera (NOT counting Chironomidae, yet!) of benthic macroinvertebrates and 16 fish species, all in this tiny little creek that averages 6-12" deep and was maybe 3 feet in a couple of beaver ponds! We have almost completed editing the final report on last fall's field work and if possible I will eventually provide a link to it once it becomes public.

In the meantime, here's a bunch of photos of the field work and the beautiful environment we were doing it in. Enjoy! And there's another bunch of this coming up for us in May, were are going back & expanding this work to include reference streams, periphyton (algae!), and I may be smashing midge heads for generic identification (did this during my never-finished PhD work in Missouri). Lots of work & lots of $$$ for me this year!!!

Jonathon

No matter how big the one you just caught is, there's always a bigger one out there somewhere...