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.

Mount Deborah and Hess Mountains. Two of the greatest peaks of the Alaska Range rise behind the braided, glacial Susitna River. These massive mountains are 35 miles north of where I took this picture.

From the Susitna River in Alaska

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.

6 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.

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Nice hook jaw Brown

Report at a Glance

General Region	Montana
Specific Location	Flowing water
Dates Fished	July 18 - July 27
Time of Day	Early afternoon
Fish Caught	About 100 wild fish from 15" - 23.5"
Conditions & Hatches	PMD's, tan caddis, some Tricos.

Details and Discussion

Wbranch

York & Starlight PA

Posts: 2635

Wbranch on Sep 29, 2009September 29th, 2009, 12:47 am EDT

Very good fishing the first four days, then it got tougher and tougher. I think the second day my buddy and I landed close to fifty fish 17" - 22" all on dries.

Catskill fly fisher for fifty-five years.

Oldredbarn

Novi, MI

Posts: 2600

Oldredbarn on Sep 30, 2009September 30th, 2009, 7:23 am EDT

W Branch,

You have some very nice photos for the den there! They remind me of a trip I made to Montana in 1995 where the fishing was so good I swore to myself I'd be back every year. Here it is 2009 and I've only made it back once in 2004. I'm just a poor "wage-slave" these days instead of a troutbum.

That last photo really brought back some memories of a couple nights on the Madison near the $3.00 Bridge.

I had booked, about a year in advance, a day on Armstrongs. I was sitting on the bank on the Madison trying to get myself to drive back to Ennis so I could get up early the next day for the drive over by Livingston.

I had a wonderful day of fishing and as it started to head towards evening I looked up and just above the shrubs along the bank there was a cloud of Caddis flying around. Then they moved out over the river and then a few started to leave the cloud of bugs and land for a bit on the water. A few short moments later there were wonderful rolling rises everywhere.

I remembered what a friend had told me before I left for out-west, "Don't leave fish for fish." I said to myself that sleep really didn't matter, I had come here to fish to rising trout and they were rising, and stayed and fished through till they stopped feeding, headed back to Ennis with a smile on my face, dreaming of how nice it was going to be at Armstrongs the next day.

It is truely hard to beat fishing out there as your photos attest!

Way to educate some fish!

Spence

"Even when my best efforts fail it's a satisfying challenge, and that, after all, is the essence of fly fishing." -Chauncy Lively

"Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood

Al514