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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.

By Troutnut on July 7th, 2013
Our third day hiking was wet and cold all the way through. The temperature was in the forties (Fahrenheit) and the cold drizzle didn't stop all day. We had decent raingear, but it's impossible to keep everything dry in this weather. My wife Lena didn't have waterproof boots, so her feet got soaked, and I ended up with water sloshing around in my boots after ferrying her and all our stuff across an unexpectedly rain-swollen creek. We had long since given up on our original plan to complete the hike in three days, and covered plenty of ground on day three just to make a four-day finish viable.

Photos by Troutnut from Clearwater Mountains in Alaska

Where are chest waders when you need them?

From Clearwater Mountains in Alaska
Crossing a tributary of Windy Creek. My waterproof leather boots & Kuiu gaiters kept my feet dry here, but I had less luck in the thigh-deep holes of whitewater in rain-swollen Windy Creek itself a couple hours later.

From Clearwater Mountains in Alaska
Crossing flooded Windy Creek below the beaver dam

From Clearwater Mountains in Alaska
Pretty alpine meadow

From Clearwater Mountains in Alaska
Brush to cross in Windy Creek valley

From Clearwater Mountains in Alaska
Caribou highway

From Clearwater Mountains in Alaska
Steep descent from the second pass

From Clearwater Mountains in Alaska
Third night's camp. Looking down-valley toward upper Windy Creek.

From Clearwater Mountains in Alaska
View beyond the second pass

From Clearwater Mountains in Alaska
Caribou trails

From Clearwater Mountains in Alaska
View to the third pass

From Clearwater Mountains in Alaska
Rocky mountain pass

From Clearwater Mountains in Alaska
Clearwater Mountains in Alaska
Tundra rose (Potentilla fruiticosa)

From Clearwater Mountains in Alaska
Lone bull caribou. This mid-sized bull is grazing in the upper right corner of this picture, in a high meadow above a cliff half-way up a mountain.

From Clearwater Mountains in Alaska
Clearwater Mountains in Alaska
Clearwater Mountains in Alaska

Comments / replies

Jmd123
Jmd123's profile picture
Oscoda, MI

Posts: 2474
Jmd123 on Jul 31, 2013July 31st, 2013, 7:16 pm EDT
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW, Jason this stuff is just really mind-blowing!! Too bad is was sooooo damned cold and wet but the scenery is just beyond belief...BTW, what you call "tundra rose" up there, Potentilla fruticosa, is called "shrubby cinquefoil" here in Michigan, and it is considered a "calciphile", a plant that loves an alkaline, high-calcium soil, as in fens or alkaline wetlands. In fact, we saw it in bloom on our last field trip in my Field Biology class today (their final exam is next Wednesday) to a wonderful place called Tuttle Marsh (one of Spence's favorite birding places!). Yep, learned that one in my Boreal Flora class 29 years ago...

Jonathon
No matter how big the one you just caught is, there's always a bigger one out there somewhere...

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