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.

A beautiful braided reach of the Sag River, with the Philip Smith Mountains in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in the background.

From the Sagavanirktok River in Alaska

Stream photos

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Zapada cinctipes (Tiny Winter Black) Stonefly Nymph Zapada cinctipes (Tiny Winter Black) Stonefly Nymph

Dorsal view of a Zapada cinctipes (Nemouridae) (Tiny Winter Black) Stonefly Nymph from the Yakima River in Washington

Nymphs of this species were fairly common in late-winter kick net samples from the upper Yakima River. Although I could not find a key to species of Zapada nymphs, a revision of the Nemouridae family by Baumann (1975) includes the following helpful sentence: "2 cervical gills on each side of midline, 1 arising inside and 1 outside of lateral cervical sclerites, usually single and elongate, sometimes constricted but with 3 or 4 branches arising beyond gill base in Zapada cinctipes." This specimen clearly has the branches and is within the range of that species.

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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.

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Driving into Denali National Park for the road lottery

By Troutnut on September 11th, 2014

Whenever we remember not to miss the deadline, Lena and I put in for the "road lottery," a draw for permits to drive personal vehicles into Denali National Park for a day in mid-September. The rest of the year, it's only open to tour buses and other official vehicles. This was the second year we've drawn a permit.

As is customary, we took way too long to leave Fairbanks and were among the last people into the park on our designated day. We quickly set up a spacious dome tent at the Teklanika River Campground (a luxury after spending so much time in backpack tents this year), and drove into the depths of the park behind everyone else.

It was a cloudy, windy day, but the sun peeked out a few times to liven up the scenery--not that it really needed any livening. Denali National Park is always amazing, and it's great to be able to enjoy it from our own vehicle, at our own pace.

This was our best trip for bear viewing. I think we saw seven grizzlies in all, including one just before dusk that we spotted very close to the road eating berries. It got curious and ran up to the car (or "charged," as Lena says), then walked past and lumbered down the road behind us.

We were among the last cars out of the park, but we did better than last time. This time, at least, I didn't have to drive Polychrome Pass in the dark--a narrow stretch of the gravel road that winds sinuously across a thousand-foot-high cliff face with no guardrail. It is beautiful from a distance, but every time I'm there I feel nervous that I'm not wearing a parachute.