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.
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Report at a Glance
| General Region | central pa |
| Specific Location | limestone spring creek somewhere between boalsburg and milesburg |
| Dates Fished | 8/17 8/18 8/19 |
| Time of Day | before dawn until the fish stopped rising (around 11am) |
| Fish Caught | wild browns 8" up to 16 1/2" |
| Conditions & Hatches | trico female duns(24)and then male(26) and female(24) spinners caenis 24 and 26 beetles(20) and ants air temp 59 at dawn and 80+ at noon clear tuesday, overcast wednesday and partly cloudy thursday flows around 55 cfs water temp around 62 at dawn and up to 66 when i finished |
Details and Discussion
Gutcutter on Aug 21, 2010August 21st, 2010, 5:49 am EDT
i fished solo tuesday. fish were rising before dawn to the emerging females. mostly small fish but they wacked the right fly with reckless abandon once i figured out what they wanted. later i jumped around looking for swarms. when i saw one with no trout rising below i moved to the next riffle and the next until i found rising fish. when they were steadily rising (and i got a good drift) i changed flies until i found what they liked and was rewarded well for persistance.
not nearly as many bugs in the mating swarms this year. without the correct backlight they were tough to see.
wednesday bruce (lastchance) joined me and it was more of the same. he did well fishing nymphs during the emergence and the dry fly fishing was a bit better during the fall.
thursday bruce and i fished the hatch and fall again and were joined by shawn (shawnny3) towars the end of the trico spinner fall. the wind picked up and terrestrials became effective and then the caenis started.
i can't speak for bruce and shawn, but i had a ball
not nearly as many bugs in the mating swarms this year. without the correct backlight they were tough to see.
wednesday bruce (lastchance) joined me and it was more of the same. he did well fishing nymphs during the emergence and the dry fly fishing was a bit better during the fall.
thursday bruce and i fished the hatch and fall again and were joined by shawn (shawnny3) towars the end of the trico spinner fall. the wind picked up and terrestrials became effective and then the caenis started.
i can't speak for bruce and shawn, but i had a ball
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
Lastchance on Aug 21, 2010August 21st, 2010, 8:01 am EDT
Hi Gutcutter: I had a great time fishing tricos, caenis, midges and whatever else was on the water. I'm not the best fisherman of small flies, but I had a lot of fun, learned much and can't wait to do it all over again on Spring Creek. I've always loved fishing the tricos for the challenge they present.
It was sure nice meeting you Shawnny!
Bruce
It was sure nice meeting you Shawnny!
Bruce
Taxon on Aug 21, 2010August 21st, 2010, 8:04 am EDT
Tony,
Caenis on moving water? Please tell me more.
Caenis on moving water? Please tell me more.
SlateDrake9 on Aug 21, 2010August 21st, 2010, 10:20 am EDT
Sounds like it was a good time.
Fishing with bait is like swearing in church.
-- Slate Drake
-- Slate Drake
GONZO on Aug 21, 2010August 21st, 2010, 11:23 am EDT
Tony,
Just taking your advice to talk bugs:
There's a little baetid that follows the Tricos on many PA waters (just ask Louis). The female spinners have orangish tan bodies and the males have whitish abdomens with an orangish tan thorax. They could be confused for Caenis, but they have two tails. Might this have been what you saw?
(Caenis have three tails, very broad whitish wings with a dark leading edge, and they have the unusual habit of resting with their wings outstretched rather than upright.)
Just taking your advice to talk bugs:
There's a little baetid that follows the Tricos on many PA waters (just ask Louis). The female spinners have orangish tan bodies and the males have whitish abdomens with an orangish tan thorax. They could be confused for Caenis, but they have two tails. Might this have been what you saw?
(Caenis have three tails, very broad whitish wings with a dark leading edge, and they have the unusual habit of resting with their wings outstretched rather than upright.)
Shawnny3 on Aug 21, 2010August 21st, 2010, 1:30 pm EDT
I had a great time, guys, though I can't say I shared in much of the success. It was fun to watch Tony fish for a while - very instructive. Good to meet both of you.
Are you going to post any of the pics your gillie took for you, Tony? Also, good to see you posting again after your many assurances that your wife was going to kill you for staying to catch one more fish, and one more fish, and one more fish... For the record, Bruce and I kept trying to get him to go home to his family, finally having to physically remove him from the stream while he yelled repeatedly, "Just one more fish!" It was all a little embarrassing.
-Shawn
Are you going to post any of the pics your gillie took for you, Tony? Also, good to see you posting again after your many assurances that your wife was going to kill you for staying to catch one more fish, and one more fish, and one more fish... For the record, Bruce and I kept trying to get him to go home to his family, finally having to physically remove him from the stream while he yelled repeatedly, "Just one more fish!" It was all a little embarrassing.
-Shawn
Jewelry-Quality Artistic Salmon Flies, by Shawn Davis
www.davisflydesigns.com
www.davisflydesigns.com
Gutcutter on Aug 21, 2010August 21st, 2010, 1:40 pm EDT
gonzo - yes - that must have been the ones that i saw. i didn't grab one to look at it too closely as there were fish rising. few years back i just called them tiny olives and i fished, well, tiny olive patterns. now that i have been informed as to what they are, i'm happy to report that a size 22 (tmc 2488 hook) light olive sprout fished on a long and thin leader (8x) matched them well. now i'm gonna have to rethink all of this and start tying them more closely to what gonzo and louis describe. rats! i have a fly that works and i have to screw around with it to make it "better"
roger i was probably amiss first of all because i'm sorta new at all this latin stuff. they were in slow moving pools and as i looked up the "tiny olives", caenis came up as it said that they will inhabit slow pools in trout streams but are mostly a still water mayfly.
live and learn
shawn - i'll get even...
bruce - you are a lousy photographer but a great fishing buddy
roger i was probably amiss first of all because i'm sorta new at all this latin stuff. they were in slow moving pools and as i looked up the "tiny olives", caenis came up as it said that they will inhabit slow pools in trout streams but are mostly a still water mayfly.
live and learn
shawn - i'll get even...
bruce - you are a lousy photographer but a great fishing buddy
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
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