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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Brookies and their feeding patterns

GoofusBug
Posts: 31

GoofusBug on Jan 11, 2009January 11th, 2009, 2:36 pm EST

Was reading an article on brook trout which said that brookies most often feed on the bottom.

Is this true in your own experience?

UPTroutBum
Marquette, MI

Posts: 33

UPTroutBum on Jan 12, 2009January 12th, 2009, 9:18 am EST

Pretty broad statement there. On my local streams in northern michigan, I have caught most brookies on nymphs, especially the bigger ones, I have caught some small guys on drys like an adams, never any bigger than 8, maybe its just my luck.

" The true fisherman approaches the first day of fishing season with
all the sense of wonder and awe of a child approaching Christmas." John Voelker

RleeP
NW PA - Pennsylvania's Glacial Pothole Wonderland

Posts: 398

RleeP on Jan 12, 2009January 12th, 2009, 9:43 am EST

It is sort of a broad statement, but it isn't (IMO) without some modicum of truth, even if it is a more comparative truth.

Here's what I mean by this:

In my experience, of the 3 species of trout/char most of us fish over in the East/Midwest, I have found that day in and day out, brook trout are the least likely to be free-rising. This is among wild populations and presumes we are not talking about fish that live (as brookies often do..) in a setting sufficiently infertile that they cannot afford to let virtually any feeding opportunity pass.

I don't think the difference in this between the species is that pronounced, but I do think it is real.