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.

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Neoleptophlebia Mayfly Nymph Neoleptophlebia Mayfly Nymph

Dorsal view of a Neoleptophlebia (Leptophlebiidae) Mayfly Nymph from the Yakima River in Washington

Some characteristics from the microscope images for the tentative species id: The postero-lateral projections are found only on segment 9, not segment 8. Based on the key in Jacobus et al. (2014), it appears to key to Neoleptophlebia adoptiva or Neoleptophlebia heteronea, same as this specimen with pretty different abdominal markings. However, distinguishing between those calls for comparing the lengths of the second and third segment of the labial palp, and this one (like the other one) only seems to have two segments. So I'm stuck on them both. It's likely that the fact that they're immature nymphs stymies identification in some important way.

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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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over- or under-lining?

Irishangler
Posts: 12

Irishangler on Jun 27, 2008June 27th, 2008, 4:38 pm EDT

I was curious to hear your opinions about over- or under-lining to change the casting characteristics of a fly rod. A friend of mine most frequently uses a 6-wt medium fast rod and started spooling 5-wt line, especially when throwing streamers, to get a little more pop on longer casts. He swears this makes it easier to accomplish this task. How sound is his reasoning?

irishangler

GONZO
Site Editor
"Bear Swamp," PA

Posts: 1681

GONZO on Jun 27, 2008June 27th, 2008, 5:19 pm EDT

There's nothing wrong with using line weight to fine tune a rod to suit your taste. If your friend likes the way it works, that's all that really matters. Generally, under-lining a rod speeds up the action and over-lining slows it down. Some people over-line fast rods to make them work easier at short distance, and others under-line slower rods to let them carry more line without bogging down. If your friend is throwing heavy streamers, I'd say his reasoning is reasonable.

Martinlf