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.
Here's a big water scorpion (no relation to actual scorpions). These guys are just about the most sinister-looking creatures you could find, and what's especially creepy is that they can come up out of the water and fly around, as I learned when one left my aquarium and buzzed my head while I was peeking into the microscope at a mayfly nymph.
Troutnut on Jan 18, 2007January 18th, 2007, 5:29 pm EST
Thanks. :)
I found one of the big robust ones from one of the other genera a couple weeks ago while seining a small "warmwater" (albeit half-frozen) stream with my dad to catch minnows for our aquarium. I was hoping to get some pics, although I didn't have my good photo gear with me, but the thing flew away inside our house while we weren't looking. It never turned up, so odds are the labrador retriever ate it...
Jason Neuswanger, Ph.D.
Troutnut and salmonid ecologist