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.

Stream photos

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Ephemerella mucronata Mayfly Nymph Ephemerella mucronata Mayfly Nymph

Dorsal view of a Ephemerella mucronata (Ephemerellidae) Mayfly Nymph from the Yakima River in Washington

This is an interesting one. Following the keys in Merritt R.W., Cummins, K.W., and Berg, M.B. (2019) and Jacobus et al. (2014), it keys clearly to Ephemerella. Jacobus et al provide a key to species, but some of the characteristics are tricky to interpret without illustrations. If I didn't make any mistakes, this one keys to Ephemerella mucronata, which has not previously been reported any closer to here than Montana and Alberta. The main character seems to fit well: "Abdominal terga with prominent, paired, subparallel, spiculate ridges." Several illustrations or descriptions of this holarctic species from the US and Europe seem to match, including the body length, tarsal claws and denticles, labial palp, and gill shapes. These sources include including Richard Allen's original description of this species in North America under the now-defunct name E. moffatae in Allen RK (1977) and the figures in this description of the species in Italy.

17 Recently Added Photos

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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Susquehanna River

Wbranch has attached these 6 pictures to this report. The message is below.

Report at a Glance

General Region	York County water
Specific Location	If you know the area you will know where I was
Dates Fished	September 12 & 13
Time of Day	10 - 5 both days
Fish Caught	Smallmouth
Conditions & Hatches	Very low water, only 10,300 cfs. It should be around 18,000 cfs. Water clarity is excellent. I could easily see the bottom in 4' of water. No hatches but fish are chasing bait.

Details and Discussion

Wbranch

York & Starlight PA

Posts: 2635

Wbranch on Sep 14, 2017September 14th, 2017, 10:07 am EDT

Just a few pictures from a recent outing.

Catskill fly fisher for fifty-five years.

Jmd123

Oscoda, MI

Posts: 2474

Jmd123 on Sep 14, 2017September 14th, 2017, 2:45 pm EDT

Ever chuck streamers at those smallies, Matt? Or are they too deep for that? I would think one of my Killer Bass Flies in size 6 with nickel-plated dumbbell eyes would do the trick, or one of your own nice minnow imitations. Do they ever come up for dry flies, or are you too busy chasing trout when that's happening? As you have seen, I have pulled some really nice ones like yours from Cooke Pond, but I usually try to hit that during fly hatches because even 20-inchers will take a freakin' #12 EHC! Not to mention there's good Hex, Brown Drake, and Light Cahill hatches out there that really bring them up.

There is not a harder-fighting freshwater fish in North America! Trout can sure give you a battle, but I've worn out 18" trout a lot faster than any 18" smallie I've ever tied into, sometimes it seems like they are NEVER going to wear out! You have to go to saltwater species to get that hard of a fight.

Very nice looking bronzebacks. Glad to hear that river is doing well again, it sure got a lot of bad publicity not that long ago. Done with trout for the year? I'm just getting ready for my Fall Attack, before it gets too damned cold to hold a fly rod...

Jonathon

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

Partsman

bancroft michigan

Posts: 321

Partsman on Sep 16, 2017September 16th, 2017, 9:20 am EDT

Beautiful fish Matt, the smallmouth is an awesome fish, and one I intend to fish more of. Jonathon I used to used to fish loud and five channels ponds quite a bit, back then they were full of hammer handle size pike, and some really nice smallies! I'm going to looking for a canoe to play around with up there, no more boats for me.

Take care guys'
Mike.