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 one was surprisingly straightforward to identify. The lack of a sclerite at the base of the lateral hump narrows the field quite a bit, and the other options followed fairly obvious characteristics to Clostoeca, which only has one species, Clostoeca disjuncta.
CaseyP on Jul 17, 2007July 17th, 2007, 11:49 pm EDT
there were three heavy nymphs on the leader: one bright pink Czech, one copper, and one tungston hare's ear. all day long the fish alternated amongst the three, but the pink and the copper got the most. the other fish pictures are characterized chiefly by the escape of the subject as the shutter snapped, but all fish pictures look alike anyway!
weather's good today--looking forward to the afternoon!
Troutnut on Jul 18, 2007July 18th, 2007, 12:46 pm EDT
Thanks for posting that Casey! "Peaty" is such a neat, British-sounding term for those tannin-stained streams. I like it.
There must be some nice satisfaction in catching browns which are both wild and native. I felt a bit of that last week catching native rainbows in Alaska.
Jason Neuswanger, Ph.D.
Troutnut and salmonid ecologist