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.
Featured on the forum
This one seems to lead to Couplet 35 of the Key to Genera of Perlodidae Nymphs and the genus Isoperla, but I'm skeptical that's correct based on the general look. I need to get it under the microscope to review several choices in the key, and it'll probably end up a different Perlodidae.
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.
Levwood on Jun 16, 2013June 16th, 2013, 2:53 pm EDT
This stonefly blundered into me on the South Branch, AuSable River near Grayling, Michigan last week. I call it a big, black stonefly. Some of you may call it a black Plecoptera. Can someone give me a positive id on this guy?
Lev
Oldredbarn on Jun 16, 2013June 16th, 2013, 5:22 pm EDT
I want to say Pteronarcys dorsata...but...What color was it? Were there orange highlights on this bug or maybe yellow? These are our largest stoneflies here in Michigan...
They are huge...38-60mm...The shield like covering over the "pronotal disk" is characteristic...Thank you Ann Miller! :)
I have one posted from a few years back resting on a blade of grass. The shucks at seen at streamside on twigs etc sticking out of the water. Sometimes two or three on top of each other...They usually emerge in the middle of the night.
Spence
http://www.troutnut.com/topic/3278/Au-Sable-river-Michigan-06-25-2011
They are huge...38-60mm...The shield like covering over the "pronotal disk" is characteristic...Thank you Ann Miller! :)
I have one posted from a few years back resting on a blade of grass. The shucks at seen at streamside on twigs etc sticking out of the water. Sometimes two or three on top of each other...They usually emerge in the middle of the night.
Spence
http://www.troutnut.com/topic/3278/Au-Sable-river-Michigan-06-25-2011
"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
TNEAL on Jun 17, 2013June 17th, 2013, 3:44 am EDT
Hence the success of the Houghton Lake Special.... the giant dry fly with deer hair down wing....
Tight lines, Tim
Tight lines, Tim
Levwood on Jun 17, 2013June 17th, 2013, 7:26 am EDT
the color was mostly dark olive to black. I did not have a chance to turn him over - ran away from me. So, I guess it was the Pteronarcys dorsata. Thanks, Lev
Lev
Oldredbarn on Jun 17, 2013June 17th, 2013, 7:47 am EDT
Lev...It's the cousin to the so-called "salmonfly" made famous on western waters, Pteronarcys californica.
It's one honking big bug...Did it startle you? :) I was on a float trip on the Au Sable a few years back and had a Dobsonfly (Hellgrammite) land on the back of my neck and it creeped me out. :) I was fishing after dark on the Huron river and had one of those Sphinx moths or Luna Moths fly right in to my face. I think it thought I was a tree and was going to land on my face. I ducked and swung my arm in to it...It looked like a damn bird coming at me. :)
"Nighttime maybe the right time", but I've run in to some odd things after dark...Once I hit a bat with my rod while in an Au Sable riverboat...I thought I'd hooked the guide and was afraid to look back at him, only to see him doubled over laughing, "Damn Spence! You just whacked a bat. Is your rod ok?!"
By-the-way...If you see my wife, I don't fish after dark, ok? ;)
Spence
It's one honking big bug...Did it startle you? :) I was on a float trip on the Au Sable a few years back and had a Dobsonfly (Hellgrammite) land on the back of my neck and it creeped me out. :) I was fishing after dark on the Huron river and had one of those Sphinx moths or Luna Moths fly right in to my face. I think it thought I was a tree and was going to land on my face. I ducked and swung my arm in to it...It looked like a damn bird coming at me. :)
"Nighttime maybe the right time", but I've run in to some odd things after dark...Once I hit a bat with my rod while in an Au Sable riverboat...I thought I'd hooked the guide and was afraid to look back at him, only to see him doubled over laughing, "Damn Spence! You just whacked a bat. Is your rod ok?!"
By-the-way...If you see my wife, I don't fish after dark, ok? ;)
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
Crepuscular on Jun 17, 2013June 17th, 2013, 11:13 am EDT
I think it thought I was a tree and was going to land on my face.
veggie ;)
I once saw a bat land on the back of a guy downstream of me a short distance during the white fly on the yellow breeches, lots of weeping and wailing, splashing and ending with a very ungraceful splash.I think I wet my waders... I also have a friend who gets spooked by dinosaurs when fishing at night (he also refuses to use port-a-pots since he saw Jurassic Park).
Oldredbarn on Jun 17, 2013June 17th, 2013, 7:19 pm EDT
veggie ;)
Funny!
There is a cover article in the latest Sierra Club magazine called, "Eat Your Bugs!"...I don't think so! "Sure, They seem icky. But They're Good for you (and the planet)."
Hmmm...I think I'll stick to Sheetz...;)
Spence
I have swallowed a few reed smuts and gnats over the years of fishing after dark...But I don't do that anymore, ;), right dear?!
"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, 2013June 18th, 2013, 10:09 pm EDT
Doin' a hit and run from the road.:) Looks like a perlid (Golden Stone family) to me. For starters - wrong head shape to be a pteronarcyd. Agnetina capitata (Northern Stone)?
"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 19, 2013June 19th, 2013, 3:00 am EDT
Yeah...I agree. The size didn't
seem quite right and the dorsata has serious orange highlights visable from the top. If you google it "bug guide" has a nice picture of Lev's bug. It's twin. Fancy warrior shield/plate and all.
Spence
seem quite right and the dorsata has serious orange highlights visable from the top. If you google it "bug guide" has a nice picture of Lev's bug. It's twin. Fancy warrior shield/plate and all.
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
Quick Reply
Related Discussions
Topic
Replies
Last Reply
1
Jan 29, 2016
by Martinlf
by Martinlf
1
Oct 28, 2008
by GONZO
by GONZO
4
Sep 4, 2012
by Entoman
by Entoman