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.

I spent more than an hour casting to several rising trout in this pool and caught only two. Its clear water and tricky currents harbor dozens of free-rising, usually very hard-to-catch fish.

From Enfield Creek in New York

Stream photos

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Onocosmoecus (Great Late-Summer Sedge) Caddisfly Larva Onocosmoecus (Great Late-Summer Sedge) Caddisfly Larva

Lateral view of a Onocosmoecus (Limnephilidae) (Great Late-Summer Sedge) Caddisfly Larva from the Yakima River in Washington

This specimen keys pretty easily to Onocosmoecus, and it closely resembles a specimen from Alaska which caddis expert Dave Ruiter recognized as this genus. As with that specimen, the only species in the genus documented in this area is Onocosmoecus unicolor, but Dave suggested for that specimen that there might be multiple not-yet-distinguished species under the unicolor umbrella and it would be best to stick with the genus-level ID. I'm doing the same for this one.

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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.

Troutnut is a project started in 2003 by salmonid ecologist Jason "Troutnut" Neuswanger to help anglers and fly tyers unabashedly embrace the entomological side of the sport. Learn more about Troutnut or support the project for an enhanced experience here.

They're STILL eating my hoppers! Plus, a very large minnow...

Jmd123 has attached these 6 pictures. The message is below.

Didn't know a hopper would work this late in the year!

Fall colors are late this year, but better late than never (i.e., brown)

Muskie bait?? Biggest freakin' golden shiner I've ever seen in my life, bent the rod too!

A beautiful fishing spot only adds to the sweetness of success

Last and best of the trip, just an inch shy of the frying pan - hit the fly while I was reeling in

Jmd123

Oscoda, MI

Posts: 2474

Jmd123 on Oct 23, 2016October 23rd, 2016, 5:18 pm EDT

Unlike most fall days, our winds died down today to practically nothing. And with temps in the mid- to upper-50s F, today seemed like a perfect day to take the kayak out while it's still not too cold to do so. Plus, our fall colors are just about at peak right now, so I wanted to get out for a good look. Where to go? Why Reid Lake, of course, surrounded by maples and oaks and full of perch and rainbows! So off I went, kayak on the roof, up F-41 and US 72 for a very nice color display, really bright right now. And the shores of the lake weren't too bad either, as you can see...Having caught soooo many nice perch (and a few rainbows including a 16-incher) on streamers last fall, that's what I went with first. Well, same as last time, next to nothing hit my streamer. But then I saw a fish rise near shore, and he moved enough water to probably not just be a minnow...on went a #10 hopper, and after a few tentative nips a 10" rainbow grabbed it good and bent the rod over! Dry fly trout with only 8 days to go until November! With the lake like glass, I continued throwing said hopper around until I left, and ended up catching a total of 8 rainbows, the biggest being 11" and therefore all went back in (I do keep them here because it's stocked with 1300-1500 rainbows every spring). This is the first time EVER I have caught trout consistently on this lake, in the past they've been random scattered amongst a lot of perch, but today I had them figured out good. Not only that, but I do believe I just caught my own personal best golden shiner ever, at least this is about the biggest one I have ever seen! He liked the hopper too...

DANG I hope we get a few more decent days!!! Sometimes fall fishing is the best.

Jonathon

No matter how big the one you just caught is, there's always a bigger one out there somewhere...