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.
Lastchance on Jul 8, 2010July 8th, 2010, 12:28 pm EDT
Nice pics and thanks. It looks like you all had a great time. Do you own that cabin or did you rent it? I'd like to rent one next year if I can get a few guys to go in with me.
Bruce
I don't own the camp they are friends of mine. I see them about every time I go to Penns witch is very often I only live 30 mins away.I'm on Penns 30 to 40 times a year not only fishing but walking and looking around.If you are looking to rent look at Penns creek angler. We always stay at Poe Paddy or at a friends camp in Havice vally or just go home.
p.s Thanks for the good word about my pics.
“There are no great men. Just great challenges which ordinary men,out of necessity, are forced by circumstance to meet.”
Oldredbarn on Jul 8, 2010July 8th, 2010, 4:07 pm EDT
Dan,
Wonderful photos...That fly is a mystery for us anglers in Michigan and it's nice to see them like that. Your Brown Drake photos are nice as well...That's the fly here that has the mystery status though everyone outside the state always ask about the Hex.
I have a question though...That photo on the stream with all the anglers lined up...What is the standard operating procedure there? Every stream has it's own rules to some degree even though everyone's not always in on what they are.
We have crowd problems on the Au Sable and the Manistee during the Hex, but those crowds are more common here on our rivers with salmon and steelhead runs. That's why I avoid the Hex and the "Big Fish" issues.
Penny for your thoughts.
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
The anglers you see in the photo are all my friends. that number of anglers is not too bad. I should have gotten a pic up stream a ways it was elbow to elbow. We are below the main hatch, there is no SOP when the drakes are on. The night before this pic aws taken a friend an I were up stream at the main hatch setting on a hole and riff haveing a few cold ones and this guy comes down say nothing and walks between us and starts fishing. I looked at him and said are you for f----ing real and he say, "what this is were I wanted to fish" I said what the f--- do you think we are doing here we have been here for 45 mins. He got my point and left. Latter that night in the parking lot this guy starts talking to us and say to us did you "run in to that little a--hole at love's hole"I said no but I did run in to you then he figured out who I was. Needles to say he did not chat long. Spence I'm not that type of person but he needed told and thats why I fish the drakes about every 5 years just enough time to forget what its like.I porably wont fish the drakes again till 2015 or I'll go over in the am before work. sorry for being so long winded all and I'm no english major. Thanks for the intrest.
“There are no great men. Just great challenges which ordinary men,out of necessity, are forced by circumstance to meet.”
Spence,
For Drake time that is absolutely empty and is the reason I head elswhere (or fish above or below the main hatch area). The best part of it is 9/10 times the fish aren't on drakes but rather smaller stuff that gets overlooked in the mass of protein floating downriver.
All of that being said the Drake/Shadfly/Coffin Fly event is one of those things that should be experienced at least once in your lifetime for the shear spectackle of the event. Although in that regard it is probably similar to the Hex or Brown Drakes.
Dan,
Great pics and nice 'boo.
JW
"old habits are hard to kill once you have gray in your beard" -Old Red Barn