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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.

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.

Martinlf
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Moderator
Palmyra PA

Posts: 3047
Martinlf on May 12, 2013May 12th, 2013, 3:13 pm EDT
Yes.

Canoeists and kayakers generally disdain and look down on rafters as little other than unskilled rescue risks, so I applaud your genial approach to this one. Great story.
"He spread them a yard and a half. 'And every one that got away is this big.'"

--Fred Chappell
Gutcutter
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Pennsylvania

Posts: 470
Gutcutter on May 12, 2013May 12th, 2013, 3:58 pm EDT
"I know it when I see it"

Exactly. 'nuff said.

All men who fish may in turn be divided into two parts: those who fish for trout and those who don't. Trout fishermen are a race apart: they are a dedicated crew- indolent, improvident, and quietly mad.

-Robert Traver, Trout Madness
Sayfu
Posts: 560
Sayfu on May 12, 2013May 12th, 2013, 4:39 pm EDT
Canoeists?! I have made two rescues while guiding giving up a good portion of my day dangerously dragging capsized canoeists over the side of my driftboat. The most dangerous craft I have seen on freestone, and tailwater rivers in the West. That was year's ago, and my partner, and I made a rescue of two women stuck in a log jam that had been there for hours, and I saw them just before dark. They rented a canoe, and their canoe capsized.
Entoman
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Northern CA & ID

Posts: 2604
Entoman on May 12, 2013May 12th, 2013, 5:43 pm EDT
Louis -

Sorry , didn't mean to infer a relevancy between white water canoeing and rafting. Fly fishing ain't sitting on the bank soaking a worm. Same comparison.

Jere -

I've seen the same. Renting canoes for white water to tyros is like renting dirt bikes to same for use on a motocross track - with the track in control of the throttles!:)
"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
Martinlf
Martinlf's profile picture
Moderator
Palmyra PA

Posts: 3047
Martinlf on May 12, 2013May 12th, 2013, 6:13 pm EDT
Yes, there are plenty of idiots who rent canoes and get themselves into trouble. When I paddled whitewater a lot (which I don't do now) my buddies and I rescued our share of ignorant and besotted folks in canoes. I recall using ropes to swing one end of a pinned Royalex canoe up into the air so the current could carry the other end around a rock it was wrapped around. We then stomped the boat back into shape (though there were a few new wrinkles in it) and escorted the occupants out safely, spoiling our chance to play in the rapids. We considered such people even worse than rafters, as they got themselves in trouble much more easily. There are skilled and dedicated paddlers, many of whom likely have the sense, and control, to give fishermen a wide berth, and there are others--as dumb as the occasional fly fisherman who will walk right in on your fish as you set up to cast. All such should be, as a waiter I formerly worked with once said of a table that stiffed him, "made so they can't reproduce."
"He spread them a yard and a half. 'And every one that got away is this big.'"

--Fred Chappell

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