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.
This Skwala nymph still has a couple months left to go before hatching, but it's still a good representative of its species, which was extremely abundant in my sample for a stonefly of this size. It's obvious why the Yakima is known for its Skwala hatch.
Things have melted here in Alaska just enough for me to slip and slide my way up the hilly, narrow, rutted trail of ice and mud leading to a scenic mountain where I sometimes find some ptarmigan in the fall. I was hoping to get a few birds for the table before the season closes on April 30th, but I climbed all over the little mountaintop and didn't see or hear a single one. Hunting is over for now, but grayling should be returning to fishable streams as I write.
TNEAL on Apr 29, 2014April 29th, 2014, 2:11 pm EDT
Lots of water here and still below average temperatures. I fished the AuSable (Michigan) yesterday and the water temp maxed out at 49. Several fish taken on a wooly bugger; no hatches to speak of. Hendricksons are a week or so off, I'm told. First week of May is supposed to average about 10 degrees below "normal".
We are going to be way behind here with insect emergences.....