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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.

Case view of a Pycnopsyche guttifera (Limnephilidae) (Great Autumn Brown Sedge) Caddisfly Larva from the Yakima River in Washington
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.
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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Jmd123 has attached these 12 pictures. The message is below.
I don't wanna paint the boys as lushes, but there are 31 (thirty-one) empty beers in this photo
Not sure how they got ahold of this one...
Is someone going to come after me for having this?  Ah, that's OK, I'm well armed...
OK, I've at least seen this one before...
What Jonathon drinks instead of beer, pitcher courtesy my Sister the Barista
Jmd123
Jmd123's profile picture
Oscoda, MI

Posts: 2474
Jmd123 on Aug 2, 2019August 2nd, 2019, 4:57 am EDT
Well, I did say the boys had a good time, and here's (some of the) evidence. Besides what you see here they were also having mixed drinks...the vast majority was consumed at my place after the outdoor adventures. And I'm not even a beer drinker, never been...figure there are plenty of them on this site however who will get a kick out of these miscellaneous variations on the concept of beer. Enjoy!

Jonathon
No matter how big the one you just caught is, there's always a bigger one out there somewhere...
Partsman
Partsman's profile picture
bancroft michigan

Posts: 321
Partsman on Aug 2, 2019August 2nd, 2019, 7:27 am EDT
Looks like the boys have good taste in my favorite beverage! Yes Oberon is greattttt! You cant go wrong with a beer brewed by Bells! My favorite lunch time treat when fishing is Kogels pickled baloney, any good cheese, and a Oberon.
Mike.

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