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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.

Lateral view of a Onocosmoecus (Limnephilidae) (Great Late-Summer Sedge) Caddisfly Larva from the Yakima River in Washington
This specimen keys pretty easily to Onocosmoecus, and it closely resembles a specimen from Alaska which caddis expert Dave Ruiter recognized as this genus. As with that specimen, the only species in the genus documented in this area is Onocosmoecus unicolor, but Dave suggested for that specimen that there might be multiple not-yet-distinguished species under the unicolor umbrella and it would be best to stick with the genus-level ID. I'm doing the same for this one.
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.
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Male Neoleptophlebia heteronea (Leptophlebiidae) (Blue Quill) Mayfly Spinner from the  Touchet River in Washington
Martinlf
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Moderator
Palmyra PA

Posts: 3047
Martinlf on May 18, 2012May 18th, 2012, 6:39 pm EDT
The wings look clear enough, and the body dark enough this seems like a spinner to me. Great photo on this one and on the baetis posted the same time. Ah, yes, I see the other photos of thing bug labeled as spinners look the same.
"He spread them a yard and a half. 'And every one that got away is this big.'"

--Fred Chappell
Taxon
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Site Editor
Plano, TX

Posts: 1311
Taxon on May 19, 2012May 19th, 2012, 1:08 am EDT
Yes Lewis, as you observed, it's a spinner. Apart from the wings, take notice of its extremely long forelegs, which are a characteristic of male spinners, but not of male duns.
Best regards,
Roger Rohrbeck
www.FlyfishingEntomology.com

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