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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GONZO on Jun 16, 2011June 16th, 2011, 11:47 am EDT
How come when I make little jokes about McCafferty and his renaming bugs after himself no one bites on it...
Speaking strictly for myself, Spence, some of us value our (tenuous) ties to the scientific community. :) (And I believe that someone else actually named those bugs.)
"The Michigan Caddis" (no one seems to know how this ever became applied to the Hex here but it goes way back...I had a great aunt tell it to me a long time ago...)
As I recall, the name comes from a once-famous Art Winnie fly pattern, the Michigan Night Caddis. (Shame on you for not knowing that, Mr. Lore.)
Jmd123 on Jun 16, 2011June 16th, 2011, 12:05 pm EDT
Spence, you forgot the "Little Grey Bastard"! And isn't that the "Large-Breasted Mattress Thrasher"??
Jonathon
Jonathon
No matter how big the one you just caught is, there's always a bigger one out there somewhere...
Oldredbarn on Jun 16, 2011June 16th, 2011, 1:03 pm EDT
Speaking strictly for myself, Spence, some of us value our (tenuous) ties to the scientific community.
So there's politics involved? Speaking as a contrarian, that's probably not a good idea...If my old-farts memory serves me well, aren't they suppose to control for "extraneous variables"? Worrying about our "ties" and the politics involved could skewer our results, no?
You are right about me skipping the Art Winnie/Michigan Caddis thing, I probably should have my Michigan fishing license pulled, but I was riffing and again...I plead guilty to the brain not being what it once was...In fact when I just re-read this I couldn't figure out what was wrong with it until I noticed I had used a "q" instead of a "g" for guilty...I guess I was feeling quilty about it...:)
But seriously...I think the naming of the Hex here the Michigan Caddis may have pre-dated the fly pattern...It's just one of those weird things that somehow the term "caddis" became associated with the Hex. My great-aunt eventually lived over by Bear Lake and I remember her using the term and she never really fished, that I can remember. The lake used to see quite a hatch.
Spence
That is a problem with "lore"...It's been handed down and passed around so much no one can remember if there is any truth to the information or if it's out-and-out B.S...
"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
GONZO on Jun 16, 2011June 16th, 2011, 1:41 pm EDT
So there's politics involved?
There's politics involved in most everything, Spence, but I was only joking. I'm not sure it's fair to single out McCafferty and blame him for entomologists' longstanding tradition of naming bugs for one another. Heck, fly fishers (especially the modern commercial version) constantly name fly patterns for themselves in an attempt to gain some fleeting form of notoriety. At least entomologists observe the convention of honoring others rather than themselves.
But seriously...I think the naming of the Hex here the Michigan Caddis may have pre-dated the fly pattern...It's just one of those weird things that somehow the term "caddis" became associated with the Hex. My great-aunt eventually lived over by Bear Lake and I remember her using the term and she never really fished, that I can remember.
Could be. As far as I know, Art Winnie's fly dates from the 1920s, and he is usually given credit (or blame) for the caddis/Hex mix-up. What's for sure is that it would only be one of hundreds of examples of common names that were derived from fly patterns. (See this old thread: http://www.troutnut.com/topic/1916/fly-names)
JOHNW on Jun 16, 2011June 16th, 2011, 3:15 pm EDT
An odd aside...For the record Shawn Davis called the Stanley Cup Finals and Boston winning it all! Tony mentioned he wanted them to so Mark Recchi (sp?) could get another Cup...Spence
Well Recchi got the cup and decided to hang them up. He was a very likable player as far as I'm concerned and helped to shepherd a geat number of young players. What are the odds we see him as a bench boss some day?
On a side note it was a strange cup finals. I don't think I have ever seen a 7 game series which was so close and lopsided at the same time. A total of four shutouts in seven games but still a huge goal differential. Just a shame Canuks fans couldn't show a little grace in defeat.
JW
"old habits are hard to kill once you have gray in your beard" -Old Red Barn
Oldredbarn on Jun 17, 2011June 17th, 2011, 8:01 am EDT
You know Mr. G that when I was a younger man back in the late 60's I rambled on about the "dialectic" and perpetual revolution and nothing was static etc...The older I get the more I sound like Archie Bunker...The traditional aspects of the sport are like everything, in flux and "Mr. Lore" just needs to get over himself...:)
Maybe we should call you Mr. Lore and me Mr. Lore in training.
Spence
Maybe we should call you Mr. Lore and me Mr. Lore in training.
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
GONZO on Jun 18, 2011June 18th, 2011, 7:58 am EDT
The older I get the more I sound like Archie Bunker
Yeah, funny how that works, Spence. Even old hippies like us end up grumbling about how it was in the "good ol' days" and extolling tradition. Someone once said that if you don't get a little grumpy when you get old, you're just not paying attention. :)
Oldredbarn on Jun 18, 2011June 18th, 2011, 8:23 am EDT
G,
There is something to this "paying attention" or paying too much attention me thinks. My fishing mentor chides me all the time about worrying about those things we really can't affect.
I need to re-connect to my inter-Buddha, "cut the soles off my shoes and learn to play the flute", toss my fishing gear in to the current vehicle and head north...Unfortunately, I'm chained to the caboose on this wage-slave train like most of us here except Matt...Maybe I can dig out my old copy of "Trout Fishing in America"...:)
My wife likes to complain that "I don't get around much anymore" and she's right...I'm working on it kid. Last night we came home from a long day at work (our secretary was on vacation the last couple days) and I could see written all over her face that she wasn't in the mood to do anything...I grabbed the jacket and forced her in the car and we found a nice little place to have some dinner...We decided to "change it up" and we drank a micro-brew called Mile High Rye and we rasised our drinks to the sky and toasted little Tony Jr! Tony senior had called just before we headed out to tell me his young son had scored his first ever goal in a game! How's that for a Father's Day story?! Instead of throwing his hands in the air after he skated over towards his pop and threw himself against the glass as a nod to the "old man"!
I told him to tell the little fella that uncle Spence said, "even Sidney C had to have a first goal!"
Spence
There is something to this "paying attention" or paying too much attention me thinks. My fishing mentor chides me all the time about worrying about those things we really can't affect.
I need to re-connect to my inter-Buddha, "cut the soles off my shoes and learn to play the flute", toss my fishing gear in to the current vehicle and head north...Unfortunately, I'm chained to the caboose on this wage-slave train like most of us here except Matt...Maybe I can dig out my old copy of "Trout Fishing in America"...:)
My wife likes to complain that "I don't get around much anymore" and she's right...I'm working on it kid. Last night we came home from a long day at work (our secretary was on vacation the last couple days) and I could see written all over her face that she wasn't in the mood to do anything...I grabbed the jacket and forced her in the car and we found a nice little place to have some dinner...We decided to "change it up" and we drank a micro-brew called Mile High Rye and we rasised our drinks to the sky and toasted little Tony Jr! Tony senior had called just before we headed out to tell me his young son had scored his first ever goal in a game! How's that for a Father's Day story?! Instead of throwing his hands in the air after he skated over towards his pop and threw himself against the glass as a nod to the "old man"!
I told him to tell the little fella that uncle Spence said, "even Sidney C had to have a first goal!"
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
PaulRoberts on Jun 18, 2011June 18th, 2011, 8:35 am EDT
Gee Spence, suddenly I'm not so grumpy all of a sudden -despite the very fact that since I haven't cut the soles off my shoes (lately), life converges on me once again -with two deadlines I cannot, but will, meet. Thanks for the lift.
GONZO on Jun 18, 2011June 18th, 2011, 8:41 am EDT
Yeah, fatherly pride may be the best antidote--good on Tony jr.! Kinda reminds me of the lines of a favorite old Dylan song, "Sign on the Window":
Build me a cabin in Utah,
Marry me a wife, catch rainbow trout,
Have a bunch of kids who call me "Pa,"
That must be what it's all about,
That must be what it's all about.
GONZO on Jun 18, 2011June 18th, 2011, 9:34 am EDT
Just a shame Canuks fans couldn't show a little grace in defeat.
We had a conversation about that on Thursday night during a "send-off" party for a buddy who is an old Canadian ski pro and race coach. When someone commented about the silliness of Canucks fans flipping and burning their own cars, I said that they would deny that: "I'm not burning my own car, eh. He's burning mine, and I'm burning his." :)
PaulRoberts on Jun 18, 2011June 18th, 2011, 9:46 am EDT
Just a shame Canuks fans couldn't show a little grace in defeat.
We had a conversation about that on Thursday night during a "send-off" party for a buddy who is an old Canadian ski pro and race coach. When someone commented about the silliness of Canucks fans flipping and burning their own cars, I said that they would deny that: "I'm not burning my own car, eh. He's burning mine, and I'm burning his." :)
Waste of good testosterone.
Oldredbarn on Jun 18, 2011June 18th, 2011, 2:37 pm EDT
Paul,
Good to be of some help...Bemoaning my loss of the old hippie past I went out and trimmed some trees, clean the deck & deck furniture, and mowed the lawn...Somebody shoot me!!!
I then walked across the street and tried to convince a neighbor friend stuck doing pretty much the same that we should sell the damn houses, leave the wives and their kids behind and fly off to Tahiti! We both admitted that we still can't figure out how we ended up in this suburban rut, but here we is...:)
We are beginning to worry ourselves because he had a little tiff with his next door neighbor on one side and has planted a hedge to separate himself from his neighbor on his other side...I'm complaining that one neighbor of mine (from Bagdad) doesn't know a weed from a flower and I'm about to go all Seal Team 6 on his ass, and the clover that's creeping in to my lawn from the other side (this guys from Montenegro)is a losing battle..."Why do I even try?!"
Damn! That 11 day fishing trip in May's wore off already!
Spence
No Gonzo it's "You know somethings happening here, but you don't know what it is, do you Mr. Spence" :)
The Vancouver thing is a relief to us here in Detroit because it erases some of the memories of "Bubba" splashed across every newspaper in the world the day after the Tigers won it all here in 1984...It's been a long slow road we've trod trying to forget him. Thanks Canucks!
Good to be of some help...Bemoaning my loss of the old hippie past I went out and trimmed some trees, clean the deck & deck furniture, and mowed the lawn...Somebody shoot me!!!
I then walked across the street and tried to convince a neighbor friend stuck doing pretty much the same that we should sell the damn houses, leave the wives and their kids behind and fly off to Tahiti! We both admitted that we still can't figure out how we ended up in this suburban rut, but here we is...:)
We are beginning to worry ourselves because he had a little tiff with his next door neighbor on one side and has planted a hedge to separate himself from his neighbor on his other side...I'm complaining that one neighbor of mine (from Bagdad) doesn't know a weed from a flower and I'm about to go all Seal Team 6 on his ass, and the clover that's creeping in to my lawn from the other side (this guys from Montenegro)is a losing battle..."Why do I even try?!"
Damn! That 11 day fishing trip in May's wore off already!
Spence
No Gonzo it's "You know somethings happening here, but you don't know what it is, do you Mr. Spence" :)
The Vancouver thing is a relief to us here in Detroit because it erases some of the memories of "Bubba" splashed across every newspaper in the world the day after the Tigers won it all here in 1984...It's been a long slow road we've trod trying to forget him. Thanks Canucks!
"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
Entoman on Jun 18, 2011June 18th, 2011, 4:59 pm EDT
How come when I make little jokes about McCafferty and his renaming bugs after himself no one bites on it...
Don't get me started Spence. Remember the Baetis thread?
"It's not that I find fishing so important, it's just that I find all other endeavors of Man equally unimportant... And not nearly as much fun!" Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman
Oldredbarn on Jun 20, 2011June 20th, 2011, 9:33 am EDT
Damn! That 11 day fishing trip in May's wore off already!
The river-gods must be concerned for my well-being...Could this be? They have heard my grumbling and are tired of the whining! I received a call early Sunday morning from a friend informing me that there is room for me at the inn if I only would bring my sorry behind north this week...I know I grow old and that hanging out to the wee hours can be hard on this worn torso, but I hope I can remember the steps to the limbata!!! ;)
Hey fishy, fishy, Spence the Prince will soon be crossing the Crawford Co line again...Better tuck yourselves up next to the bank a little closer there and be careful what you eat! YaaaaHooo!
"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
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