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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.

Dorsal view of a Zapada cinctipes (Nemouridae) (Tiny Winter Black) Stonefly Nymph from the Yakima River in Washington
Nymphs of this species were fairly common in late-winter kick net samples from the upper Yakima River. Although I could not find a key to species of Zapada nymphs, a revision of the Nemouridae family by Baumann (1975) includes the following helpful sentence: "2 cervical gills on each side of midline, 1 arising inside and 1 outside of lateral cervical sclerites, usually single and elongate, sometimes constricted but with 3 or 4 branches arising beyond gill base in Zapada cinctipes." This specimen clearly has the branches and is within the range of that species.
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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Jmd123 has attached these 17 pictures. The message is below.
Oh yeah, gotta have some hellgies!  Corydalus sp.
Can't get away from midges!  A mixed bag of Chironomidae, some to be identified to genus?
Riffle beetles too!  Macronychus adult
Larvae too, Neoelmis sp., a nice shot showing the closed front coxal cavities
Not many stoneflies turned up in our samples but here's a nice big Acroneuria for ya!
Too big to see the whole thing at once!  Dragonhunter nymph, Hagenius brevistylus, listed rare in Indiana!
The only crayfish species we collected were of the phallic crayfish, Orconectes putnami.  Here you can see the male parts that gave it the name!
Not easy to see but these are snail-cased caddisflies, at least their cases (we did find animals in some of them) - Helicopsyche, this might be the first time I've seen these!
Hard to see but this one has a critter in it!
How they all ended up!
How they ended up that way...yours truly refamiliarizing himself with aquatic entomology! (Ah, like riding a bicycle!)
Unsorted, yet
WHAT ARE THESE TINY THINGS???
Good thing this books has lots of drawings!!! (Merritt, Cummins, & Berg, 4th edition)
Another habitat shot...the lowest section of this stream was classic riffle/pool complexes & had the highest invertebrate diversity
Side channel - high habitat diversity in a small stream & it showed in the biota
Finally...been a looooong day in the field, holding my damp socks, and yes, I need some dental work
Jmd123
Jmd123's profile picture
Oscoda, MI

Posts: 2474
Jmd123 on Mar 2, 2021March 2nd, 2021, 5:38 am EST
Got a few more to show. Remember, this is all to be repeated this May! I got my work cut out for me this field season... ;oD

Jonathon
No matter how big the one you just caught is, there's always a bigger one out there somewhere...
Martinlf
Martinlf's profile picture
Moderator
Palmyra PA

Posts: 3047
Martinlf on Mar 2, 2021March 2nd, 2021, 12:08 pm EST
Cool. Looks like you've been busy!
"He spread them a yard and a half. 'And every one that got away is this big.'"

--Fred Chappell
Partsman
Partsman's profile picture
bancroft michigan

Posts: 321
Partsman on Mar 3, 2021March 3rd, 2021, 10:31 am EST
Cool pics, good to hear from you.
Mike.

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