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.
Featured on the forum
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.
Troutnut is a project started in 2003 by salmonid ecologist Jason "Troutnut" Neuswanger to help anglers and
fly tyers unabashedly embrace the entomological side of the sport. Learn more about Troutnut or
support the project for an enhanced experience here.
Report at a Glance
| General Region | potter county |
| Specific Location | kettle creek |
| Dates Fished | wednesday april 28th to saturday may1st |
| Time of Day | all day |
| Fish Caught | hold-over rainbows and browns as well as stream-bred browns |
| Conditions & Hatches | froze overnight wednesday and about 80 on friday afternoon. water temp rose from 48 to 58. bright sun until clouds rolled in on friday evening. windy. p.adoptiva and e.subvaria. a few m.vicarium. i swear i saw some e.invaria, too. various stoneflies and a couple of caddis species. the usual small diptera and some small craneflies. |
Details and Discussion
Gutcutter on May 2, 2010May 2nd, 2010, 6:08 am EDT
fishing report - potter county penna. kettle creek. mark, curt , eric and i left pittsburgh at 630 for the five hour drive pulling the campers.
wed afternoon - dead! i skunked! no fish rising. quit early. but we had a great dinner - clams and mussels boiled over the fire with grouper on the coleman grill and pan seared tuna on the gas burners in the camper (curt works for a major seafood wholesaler and they were as fresh as they get in this part of the country)
thursday a.m.-cold! no hatch to speak of. i picked up a few on nymphs hendrickson and big stonefly. i caught several of the very large stoneflies (i'll be posting pictures to have them identified) that i have never seen before in penna. saw some bluequills (paralept) and some hendricksons a few march browns and an apple green stonefly throughout the day but very few rising fish. i caught 3 of the 4 risers that i saw. delmonicos (eric always brings terrific steaks)on the camp fire for dinner
thursday evening - an awesome paralept spinner fall. took a while to figure out what the wanted but after that eric and i caught almost every rising fish in the two pools that we fished up until dark. that night i tied b.q. spinners (regular and hi-viz with a small florescent parapost) until i almost fell asleep at the vise.
friday morning a minor hatch - bluequills and hendricksons and a few rising fish. dissapointed but i got my fair share. more than mark or curt fishing nymphs! eric left to go turkey hunting and mark and curt had chili for dinner while i stayed out. they missed it! awesome bluequill spinner fall and i landed 14 fish until the bats chased me off of the water when i couldn't see the fly anymore. got to the camper and ate the chili in my truck as i listened to the second and third period of the pens/canadiens game on satelite radio!
saturday morning - the best hatch i have seen up there in the past few seasons! nobody fishing my favorite pool (they had stocked several miles down stream and i guess everybody was chasing the hatchery trucks!) i had fish rising all around me! about 7am the paralept started. i switched flies several times and wound up catching them on #18 floating nymph, #20 transitional emerger, #20 paraloop emerger. the paraloop was by far the most effective fly. then they stopped taking my b.q. flies around 930 but there were still tons of rising fish. i noticed more and more subvaria on the water so i started all over again with redquills catching fish on #16 floating nymphs, transitionals, cdc sparkleduns and again the best fly was a paraloop. we were supposed to pack up the campers and leave by eleven but i couldn't leave the risers. i got 19 fish and not another fisherman in sight. as the hatch petered out i saw 2 last rising fish and caught the first one and stopped - again ending a trip with a fish on the final cast of the day and leaving one last rising fish to catch next time.
i got back to the campground and mark and curt were already packed up and ready to go. they understood my situation and weren't mad. they were kind enough to help me load and rig my camper and we were both on the road and heading home by 1pm.
holy cow - did i just give a "spence-like" rambling report?
tony
wed afternoon - dead! i skunked! no fish rising. quit early. but we had a great dinner - clams and mussels boiled over the fire with grouper on the coleman grill and pan seared tuna on the gas burners in the camper (curt works for a major seafood wholesaler and they were as fresh as they get in this part of the country)
thursday a.m.-cold! no hatch to speak of. i picked up a few on nymphs hendrickson and big stonefly. i caught several of the very large stoneflies (i'll be posting pictures to have them identified) that i have never seen before in penna. saw some bluequills (paralept) and some hendricksons a few march browns and an apple green stonefly throughout the day but very few rising fish. i caught 3 of the 4 risers that i saw. delmonicos (eric always brings terrific steaks)on the camp fire for dinner
thursday evening - an awesome paralept spinner fall. took a while to figure out what the wanted but after that eric and i caught almost every rising fish in the two pools that we fished up until dark. that night i tied b.q. spinners (regular and hi-viz with a small florescent parapost) until i almost fell asleep at the vise.
friday morning a minor hatch - bluequills and hendricksons and a few rising fish. dissapointed but i got my fair share. more than mark or curt fishing nymphs! eric left to go turkey hunting and mark and curt had chili for dinner while i stayed out. they missed it! awesome bluequill spinner fall and i landed 14 fish until the bats chased me off of the water when i couldn't see the fly anymore. got to the camper and ate the chili in my truck as i listened to the second and third period of the pens/canadiens game on satelite radio!
saturday morning - the best hatch i have seen up there in the past few seasons! nobody fishing my favorite pool (they had stocked several miles down stream and i guess everybody was chasing the hatchery trucks!) i had fish rising all around me! about 7am the paralept started. i switched flies several times and wound up catching them on #18 floating nymph, #20 transitional emerger, #20 paraloop emerger. the paraloop was by far the most effective fly. then they stopped taking my b.q. flies around 930 but there were still tons of rising fish. i noticed more and more subvaria on the water so i started all over again with redquills catching fish on #16 floating nymphs, transitionals, cdc sparkleduns and again the best fly was a paraloop. we were supposed to pack up the campers and leave by eleven but i couldn't leave the risers. i got 19 fish and not another fisherman in sight. as the hatch petered out i saw 2 last rising fish and caught the first one and stopped - again ending a trip with a fish on the final cast of the day and leaving one last rising fish to catch next time.
i got back to the campground and mark and curt were already packed up and ready to go. they understood my situation and weren't mad. they were kind enough to help me load and rig my camper and we were both on the road and heading home by 1pm.
holy cow - did i just give a "spence-like" rambling report?
tony
All men who fish may in turn be divided into two parts: those who fish for trout and those who don't. Trout fishermen are a race apart: they are a dedicated crew- indolent, improvident, and quietly mad.
-Robert Traver, Trout Madness
-Robert Traver, Trout Madness
Oldredbarn on May 2, 2010May 2nd, 2010, 6:34 am EDT
Tony,
Not bad, man! You know we love fish reports...I think you are better at staying on point than Spence and we all know we could do without his odd references to obscure philosophers etc...I just prevented him from posting his essay on Soren Kierkegaard's, "Either/Or" and "The Concept of Anxiety" and how they relate to fly selection when astream...Wow! That was close!
It sounds like the bugs are in full swing here in Michigan and there in PA...Good news! If it continues this way I'll have Brown Drakes and the little Sulphur E dorothea dorothea for sure at the end of May.
I'm heading down stairs to tie and wait for the Wings game at 8:00...
Thanks!
Spence
Not bad, man! You know we love fish reports...I think you are better at staying on point than Spence and we all know we could do without his odd references to obscure philosophers etc...I just prevented him from posting his essay on Soren Kierkegaard's, "Either/Or" and "The Concept of Anxiety" and how they relate to fly selection when astream...Wow! That was close!
It sounds like the bugs are in full swing here in Michigan and there in PA...Good news! If it continues this way I'll have Brown Drakes and the little Sulphur E dorothea dorothea for sure at the end of May.
I'm heading down stairs to tie and wait for the Wings game at 8:00...
Thanks!
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
"Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood
Quick Reply
Related Discussions
Topic
Replies
Last Reply
4
May 10, 2012
by Shanti
by Shanti
