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.
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It's only barely visible in one of my pictures, but I confirmed under the microscope that this one has a prosternal horn and the antennae are mid-way between the eyes and front of the head capsule.
I'm calling this one Pycnopsyche, but it's a bit perplexing. It seems to key definitively to at least Couplet 8 of the Key to Genera of Limnephilidae Larvae. That narrows it down to three genera, and the case seems wrong for the other two. The case looks right for Pycnopsyche, and it fits one of the key characteristics: "Abdominal sternum II without chloride epithelium and abdominal segment IX with only single seta on each side of dorsal sclerite." However, the characteristic "metanotal sa1 sclerites not fused, although often contiguous" does not seem to fit well. Those sclerites sure look fused to me, although I can make out a thin groove in the touching halves in the anterior half under the microscope. Perhaps this is a regional variation.
The only species of Pycnopsyche documented in Washington state is Pycnopsyche guttifera, and the colors and markings around the head of this specimen seem to match very well a specimen of that species from Massachusetts on Bugguide. So I am placing it in that species for now.
Whatever species this is, I photographed another specimen of seemingly the same species from the same spot a couple months later.
I'm calling this one Pycnopsyche, but it's a bit perplexing. It seems to key definitively to at least Couplet 8 of the Key to Genera of Limnephilidae Larvae. That narrows it down to three genera, and the case seems wrong for the other two. The case looks right for Pycnopsyche, and it fits one of the key characteristics: "Abdominal sternum II without chloride epithelium and abdominal segment IX with only single seta on each side of dorsal sclerite." However, the characteristic "metanotal sa1 sclerites not fused, although often contiguous" does not seem to fit well. Those sclerites sure look fused to me, although I can make out a thin groove in the touching halves in the anterior half under the microscope. Perhaps this is a regional variation.
The only species of Pycnopsyche documented in Washington state is Pycnopsyche guttifera, and the colors and markings around the head of this specimen seem to match very well a specimen of that species from Massachusetts on Bugguide. So I am placing it in that species for now.
Whatever species this is, I photographed another specimen of seemingly the same species from the same spot a couple months later.
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Oldredbarn has attached these 15 pictures. The message is below.
Wiflyfisher on Mar 15, 2014March 15th, 2014, 8:29 pm EDT
Spence, thanks goodness you didn't rewrite your poem or something.
The second to last photo you posted is called the original "Woolly Bugger".
IMHO. with the water flowing over the top of Hebgen it is causing the river below to warm up in the summer and is definitely slowing the fishing down.
Did you fish Hebgen at all in the morning?
How about my favorite, the Henry's Fork?
How about the NE section of the Park, did go fish up there?
The second to last photo you posted is called the original "Woolly Bugger".
IMHO. with the water flowing over the top of Hebgen it is causing the river below to warm up in the summer and is definitely slowing the fishing down.
Did you fish Hebgen at all in the morning?
How about my favorite, the Henry's Fork?
How about the NE section of the Park, did go fish up there?
John S.
https://WiFlyFisher.com
https://WiFlyFisher.com
Oldredbarn on Mar 17, 2014March 17th, 2014, 8:13 am EDT
No to fishing Hebgen. Some of the guys in my group fished it, not from a boat or float tube, but along the park/access area on the east side of the lake along the highway to Ennis. They had fun there.
Did not make it to the Henry's Fork...Had originally planned to but somehow got distracted. This year.
NE part of the Park...Yes...I drove out alone and headed up to Cooke City from Cody and stayed there a couple days before I needed to be at Henry's Lake.
As a group, we returned to Cooke City for one nights dinner and lodging on the Thursday evening of our week (I stayed for two weeks and did this twice) so we could fish our way over, not have to drive back, and then fish our way back across the Park the next day.
I fished Lower Slough Creek, Soda Butte in a couple different areas (above and below the Canyon), and the Lamar.
Before everyone got out there I hiked down to Hellroaring Creek, sans fishing gear, and thought I'd die on the way back up...A few days after this hike I lost both my big toe nails...Turned white and fell right off...They have grown back but not far enough to have to trim yet.
The fishing up there was crowded, and was very hot and cold. Nothing to write home about. In 2004 I rode horses up and camped at the Third Meadow and that was incredible.
The second week we were heading over to Cooke and I had hooked up with a new member, new to the sport. He is a retired Secret Service agent from the Regan era...We stopped at a spot on the Soda Butte where I had fished a couple weeks earlier and had some fun. We sat down on a log so I could show him some knots etc and when we got up to fish we noticed a Ranger heading in our direction...He was looking me directly in my eyes and said, as he pointed towards the creek, "Boys! Bear!"
I turned and just on the other side of the creek from me was a big old grizz, head down moving towards the creek and us. You have probably seen Soda Butte at this spot and know it is basically a ditch here...The Ranger walked us back up to the car, the bear drank from, but never crossed the stream...The bear was 25+ years old...Everyone seemed to know him as Scarface?
I have only seen bears in the wild in Yellowstone, and with each visit they get closer...Three different vacations and three different bears...A Black Bear in 1995, a Grizz up at the Third Meadow 2004, and this one...My wife and I drove from West Yellowstone to Gardner in the dark to make a 7:00am float on the Yellowstone and had a Grizz run across the road in front of us a ways up ahead of us.
I think I may not fish the Park this time out?! :)
Spence
Did not make it to the Henry's Fork...Had originally planned to but somehow got distracted. This year.
NE part of the Park...Yes...I drove out alone and headed up to Cooke City from Cody and stayed there a couple days before I needed to be at Henry's Lake.
As a group, we returned to Cooke City for one nights dinner and lodging on the Thursday evening of our week (I stayed for two weeks and did this twice) so we could fish our way over, not have to drive back, and then fish our way back across the Park the next day.
I fished Lower Slough Creek, Soda Butte in a couple different areas (above and below the Canyon), and the Lamar.
Before everyone got out there I hiked down to Hellroaring Creek, sans fishing gear, and thought I'd die on the way back up...A few days after this hike I lost both my big toe nails...Turned white and fell right off...They have grown back but not far enough to have to trim yet.
The fishing up there was crowded, and was very hot and cold. Nothing to write home about. In 2004 I rode horses up and camped at the Third Meadow and that was incredible.
The second week we were heading over to Cooke and I had hooked up with a new member, new to the sport. He is a retired Secret Service agent from the Regan era...We stopped at a spot on the Soda Butte where I had fished a couple weeks earlier and had some fun. We sat down on a log so I could show him some knots etc and when we got up to fish we noticed a Ranger heading in our direction...He was looking me directly in my eyes and said, as he pointed towards the creek, "Boys! Bear!"
I turned and just on the other side of the creek from me was a big old grizz, head down moving towards the creek and us. You have probably seen Soda Butte at this spot and know it is basically a ditch here...The Ranger walked us back up to the car, the bear drank from, but never crossed the stream...The bear was 25+ years old...Everyone seemed to know him as Scarface?
I have only seen bears in the wild in Yellowstone, and with each visit they get closer...Three different vacations and three different bears...A Black Bear in 1995, a Grizz up at the Third Meadow 2004, and this one...My wife and I drove from West Yellowstone to Gardner in the dark to make a 7:00am float on the Yellowstone and had a Grizz run across the road in front of us a ways up ahead of us.
I think I may not fish the Park this time out?! :)
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
Wiflyfisher on Mar 17, 2014March 17th, 2014, 9:15 am EDT
Spence,
Here is a Griz on the Lamar after a buffalo's calf...
and here is a buffalo stampede on their way up to the Gibbon. All I kept saying is don't slam into my truck please.
I tried to get some ram's urine burned fur on top of Mnt. Washburn..
You can see for miles from the top of Mnt. Washburn...
Last time out we drove back over the Beartooth Mtns... It is awesome!!
and of course Campfire Lodge's WALL OF WHITING HACKLE
Here is a Griz on the Lamar after a buffalo's calf...
and here is a buffalo stampede on their way up to the Gibbon. All I kept saying is don't slam into my truck please.
I tried to get some ram's urine burned fur on top of Mnt. Washburn..
You can see for miles from the top of Mnt. Washburn...
Last time out we drove back over the Beartooth Mtns... It is awesome!!
and of course Campfire Lodge's WALL OF WHITING HACKLE
John S.
https://WiFlyFisher.com
https://WiFlyFisher.com
Oldredbarn on Mar 17, 2014March 17th, 2014, 12:26 pm EDT
The black bear I saw in 95 was up on Mt Washburn. I can't really remember exactly where it was, but it was up that way they were doing some serious road repairs this year and the traffic was rough.
If I were a better man I'd throw some nieces and nephews in the truck sans any of their electronics and really blow their minds. Take them out there and introduce them to Scarface. :)
If I were a better man I'd throw some nieces and nephews in the truck sans any of their electronics and really blow their minds. Take them out there and introduce them to Scarface. :)
"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
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