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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 Epeorus albertae (Heptageniidae) (Pink Lady) Mayfly Nymph from the East Fork Issaquah Creek in Washington
This specimen keys to the Epeorus albertae group of species. Of the five species in that group, the two known in Washington state are Epeorus albertae and Epeorus dulciana. Of the two, albertae has been collected in vastly more locations in Washington than dulciana, suggesting it is far more common. On that basis alone I'm tentatively putting this nymph in albertae, with the large caveat that there's no real information to rule out dulciana.
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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Report at a Glance

General RegionOakland County, Michigan
Specific LocationHuron River, unnamed private lake, and Cooley Lake
Dates Fished16-20 July, 2009
Time of DayAfternoon and evening
Fish CaughtLargemouth & smallmouth bass, rock bass, bluegill, pumpkinseed, yellow perch
Conditions & HatchesSome white and brown caddisflies in the evening on the Huron River, size 12-14; otherwise, all fishing done with streamers & woolly buggers; Cabelas Three Forks rod, 4-piece 8.5' 5-wt; old Orvis Battenkill reel with Cortland 555 clear floating fly line; around 9 feet of leader with 3x tippet.

Details and Discussion

Jmd123
Jmd123's profile picture
Oscoda, MI

Posts: 2474
Jmd123 on Jul 22, 2009July 22nd, 2009, 3:48 pm EDT
Fished the Huron River - Island Park stretch, Ann Arbor - for about 2 hours on Thursday evening; caught 8 smallmouth, ranging from 4" to 13", the largest on a white #14 elk hair caddis, all others on a chartreuse/grizzly woolly bugger, size 10 (DEADLY fly in almost all warmwaters for me). Friday fished a small private lake in Mt. Clemens (McComb Co.), caught a 16" largemouth on woolly bugger described above (a friend has a picture I will eventually upload) and two bluegill in the 7-8" range on a #12 chartreuse & black firefly (only got to fish for about half an hour - I WILL be going back!!!). Saturday through Moinday, fished off friends' dock on Cooley Lake (White Lake Twp.). Caught loads of rock bass up to 10" long, plus a 14" largemouth (have taken largemouth up to 16" there!), several bluegill & pumpkinseed (caught 9-inchers back in May there), and a small yellow perch. Mostly used the woolly bugger described above, but on Monday switched to a #10 Killer Bass Fly (my own original pattern!) in the original grey & silver.

I am STILL working on getting some trout, however the nearest local "trout stream" - Paint Creek in Rochester Hills - seems to hold far more creek chubs and suckers (last time I saw a CARP in there!!) than trout. I'm not sure weather to consider it a trout stream with a large chub population, or a CHUB stream with a very small trout population...I need to get "UP NORTH"!

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

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