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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By Troutnut on May 15th, 2014
I drove south to North Pole in the evening to check out a couple of clear, spring-fed sloughs and try to catch a round whitefish for burbot bait. After a couple hours drifting nymphs through deep pools, I finally got one.
In the meantime I caught a dozen or so grayling. These sloughs often have good fishing during the grayling spawning run, but that seems to have ended already. I caught several small to medium grayling, but mostly the sloughs were packed full of yearling 3-inchers, for which they are a year-round nursery. They were rising like crazy to a midge hatch... fun to watch, if not to fish.
In the meantime I caught a dozen or so grayling. These sloughs often have good fishing during the grayling spawning run, but that seems to have ended already. I caught several small to medium grayling, but mostly the sloughs were packed full of yearling 3-inchers, for which they are a year-round nursery. They were rising like crazy to a midge hatch... fun to watch, if not to fish.
Photos by Troutnut from Piledriver Slough in Alaska
Comments / replies
Entoman on May 17, 2014May 17th, 2014, 5:48 pm EDT
Only in Alaska can words like "I drove south to North Pole..." make sense! :) Fun photo mini-essay!
"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
PaulRoberts on May 17, 2014May 17th, 2014, 11:39 pm EDT
Only in Alaska can words like "I drove south to North Pole..." make sense!
:)
Are we now trying to see who can post the smallest catches? I thought I had those honors, until Matt posted that shiner. Not sure we can beat the grayling however. :)
Motrout on May 18, 2014May 18th, 2014, 8:28 am EDT
In that setting, I could stand around catching 3 inch grayling on dry flies all day long (and then get up excited to get back to it the next day!)
That's the thing about trout/other salmonids:the bigger ones are......bigger, but the little parr-marked ones are almost always prettier.
That's the thing about trout/other salmonids:the bigger ones are......bigger, but the little parr-marked ones are almost always prettier.
"I don't know what fly fishing teaches us, but I think it's something we need to know."-John Gierach
http://fishingintheozarks.blogspot.com/
http://fishingintheozarks.blogspot.com/
Jmd123 on May 18, 2014May 18th, 2014, 9:20 am EDT
OK, if we are going to post pics of pretty little ones, I'll have to put more up on here from the Pine River, which grows some mighty pretty little rainbows and brookies...
Jonathon
Jonathon
No matter how big the one you just caught is, there's always a bigger one out there somewhere...
Gus on Jul 10, 2014July 10th, 2014, 3:09 pm EDT
that's the tiniest fish I've every seen!
Really cool pic above!
Really cool pic above!
"How do you help that son of a bitch?"
"By taking him fishing"
-A River Runs Through It
www.jsrods.com
"By taking him fishing"
-A River Runs Through It
www.jsrods.com
GldstrmSam on Aug 7, 2014August 7th, 2014, 6:47 pm EDT
Haha! I saw these posts and just had to jump in.
This past July I was fishing off of the shore down in Homer with a buddy. We were throwing large bait-hooks rigged with herring. We were targeting pollock, rockfish, and small halibut that hang around the shallower water. Anyway, we were having a great time pulling in one pollock after another and my friend glanced at his hook and saw that he needed new bait. When he went to "reload" he got a closer look at the hook and saw that he actually had caught a halibut! Needless to say, it was only about the size of a nickel. Even so, he did better than me halibut wise that day...We still can't quite figure out how it hooked itself because it was hooked through the lip... :)
This past July I was fishing off of the shore down in Homer with a buddy. We were throwing large bait-hooks rigged with herring. We were targeting pollock, rockfish, and small halibut that hang around the shallower water. Anyway, we were having a great time pulling in one pollock after another and my friend glanced at his hook and saw that he needed new bait. When he went to "reload" he got a closer look at the hook and saw that he actually had caught a halibut! Needless to say, it was only about the size of a nickel. Even so, he did better than me halibut wise that day...We still can't quite figure out how it hooked itself because it was hooked through the lip... :)
There is no greater fan of fly fishing than the worm. ~Patrick F. McManus
TroutBums on Oct 9, 2014October 9th, 2014, 10:16 am EDT
What a beautiful little greying! That is the reward with fly fishing, you catch the most beautiful fish God has made. Like Motrout, big, small and in-between , they are all a thrill to catch.
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Aug 31, 2013
by Jmd123
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