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Lateral view of a Female Hexagenia limbata (Ephemeridae) (Hex) Mayfly Dun from the Namekagon River in Wisconsin
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.

Ventral view of a Hydropsyche (Hydropsychidae) (Spotted Sedge) Caddisfly Larva from the Yakima River in Washington
With a bit of help from the microscope, this specimen keys clearly and unsurprisingly to Hydropsyche.
27" brown trout, my largest ever. It was the sub-dominant fish in its pool. After this, I hooked the bigger one, but I couldn't land it.
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.

Wbranch
Wbranch's profile picture
York & Starlight PA

Posts: 2635
Wbranch on Oct 21, 2011October 21st, 2011, 6:59 am EDT
Had a great trip to the Erie creeks Monday through Wednesday. My buddy and I had the best fishing in three years with plenty of eager anjd aggressive fresh fish and low numbers of other anglers. I won't tell you how many we hooked in three days because I know it is pretty hard to believe. I'm having trouble getting my pictures to come on larger than postage stamp size so if anyone would like to see a few pictures PM me with your email address or friend me at Facebook and in a few days I'll have posted up some of the pictures.

Catskill fly fisher for fifty-five years.
Jesse
Jesse's profile picture
Posts: 378
Jesse on Oct 23, 2011October 23rd, 2011, 6:48 pm EDT
Beautiful!
Most of us fish our whole lives..not knowing its not the fish that we are after.
http://www.filingoflyfishing.com
Strmanglr
Strmanglr's profile picture
Posts: 156
Strmanglr on Oct 24, 2011October 24th, 2011, 7:58 am EDT
Nice, you think they're coming in a little earlier this year?

DocWet
Erie, PA

Posts: 15
DocWet on Mar 19, 2013March 19th, 2013, 8:53 am EDT
Most people that live here do not fish for steelhead and those that do usually release what they catch. I've had them (steelhead) actually swim up to me...usually its because they have a hook in their gullet. If you insist on fishing for them, use artificial flies or rubber salmon eggs (Burl's nuggets)...it make releasing them lots easier and they will usually survive. We (Co-ops) stock lots of brown trout these days in addition to steelhead smolts in Lake Erie tribs. The browns tend to travel in packs...where you see one, there are usually many others.
Fooling them is not easy...they tend to hit better under low light conditions. They attain large sizes here and 12-15 lb. browns are occasionally seen and caught. A Serbian immigrant caught a 20 lb. brown on July 4 at Walnut creek some years ago and it is displayed at Poor Richards Tackle.

Cheers, Docwet [Everything has limitations...and I hate limitations.]
My favorite trout stream picture; below, shows what a first class trout river looks like. The lack of stream gradient means that this river is not subject to the roaring scouring floods so common here in PA. that wipe out everything in the river.
Wbranch
Wbranch's profile picture
York & Starlight PA

Posts: 2635
Wbranch on Mar 19, 2013March 19th, 2013, 2:02 pm EDT
"after you've caught thousands, the allure wears off."

Maybe that is how you feel but not me. I've caught many thousands of trout in the last fifty-two years and the allure and excitement is as fresh today as it was when I caught my first trout on a fly when I was seventeen years old. I've only caught a few hundred steelhead so I have a long way to go before I tire of them.
Catskill fly fisher for fifty-five years.
Oldredbarn
Oldredbarn's profile picture
Novi, MI

Posts: 2600
Oldredbarn on Mar 20, 2013March 20th, 2013, 7:28 pm EDT
Nice Matt! That is a beautiful, healthy looking fish.

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
Adirman
Adirman's profile picture
Monticello, NY

Posts: 479
Adirman on Mar 27, 2013March 27th, 2013, 3:05 am EDT
My goal for this coming season is to catch my first as Ive never even been steelheading!

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