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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Nymphs of this species were fairly common in late-winter kick net samples from the upper Yakima River. Although I could not find a key to species of Zapada nymphs, a revision of the Nemouridae family by Baumann (1975) includes the following helpful sentence: "2 cervical gills on each side of midline, 1 arising inside and 1 outside of lateral cervical sclerites, usually single and elongate, sometimes constricted but with 3 or 4 branches arising beyond gill base in Zapada cinctipes." This specimen clearly has the branches and is within the range of that species.
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Report at a Glance
| General Region | Missouri Ozarks |
| Specific Location | medium sized spring-fed creek |
| Dates Fished | June 11, 2011 |
| Time of Day | dawn to noon |
| Fish Caught | wild rainbows |
| Conditions & Hatches | water temp mid-60s air temp-mid-60s to upper-70s hatches-none to speak off, a smattering of caddis with a few Cicadas landing on the water creek slightly high and off color |
Details and Discussion
Motrout on Jun 11, 2011June 11th, 2011, 11:34 am EDT
Well, we had some much cooler weather with some rain last night, so I decided to head down to the creek, the same one I reported warm water conditions on a couple days back. Water conditions were much better when I arrived at the stream at dawn, with the water temperature at 64 degrees. The water was just slightly high and off color, but that only makes the fishing better. The air temperature was in the mid-60s (almost exactly the same as the water temperature) the sky was cloudy, and there was a light drizzle. I thought to myself that these were excellent fishing conditions-if the water temp could be just a couple degrees cooler it would be perfect. There were very few bugs on the water (the thirteen year Cicadas are winding down, and I tend to see the most of them on the water in hot, dry conditions.) So I thought it would be a perfect day to fish attractor dries. I started off with a #14 Royal Wulff, and I never did change. The majority of the fish were still holding in the riffles, but they were feeding actively and I caught maybe a dozen fish through the course of the day, and probably missed twice that many (there are a lot of fingerlings in this creek that have a hard time taking a #14). Most of the fish were just typical small stream rainbows between 4 and 9 inches, with one 12 incher thrown in that made for a fun fight on my light rod. I love fishing in cool, cloudy, drizzly weather. It sure beats the heck out of the hot, dry stuff we have been experiencing, both for the fish and the fisherman.
The best part though, was instead of water temps in the 70 degree range, they were in the 64-67 degree range. That's still a little higher than I'd like to see, but it's sure a step in the right direction. The fish seemed to have survived the heatwave okay. At least I didn't see any dead ones.
The best part though, was instead of water temps in the 70 degree range, they were in the 64-67 degree range. That's still a little higher than I'd like to see, but it's sure a step in the right direction. The fish seemed to have survived the heatwave okay. At least I didn't see any dead ones.
"I don't know what fly fishing teaches us, but I think it's something we need to know."-John Gierach
http://fishingintheozarks.blogspot.com/
http://fishingintheozarks.blogspot.com/
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