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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.

Lateral view of a Female Sweltsa borealis (Chloroperlidae) (Boreal Sallfly) Stonefly Adult from Harris Creek in Washington
I was not fishing, but happened to be at an unrelated social event on a hill above this tiny creek (which I never even saw) when this stonefly flew by me. I assume it came from there. Some key characteristics are tricky to follow, but process of elimination ultimately led me to Sweltsa borealis. It is reassuringly similar to this specimen posted by Bob Newell years ago. It is also so strikingly similar to this nymph from the same river system that I'm comfortable identifying that nymph from this adult. I was especially pleased with the closeup photo of four mites parasitizing this one.
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 7 pictures. The message is below.
First bass of the year!  Lost a nicer one in the backwaters (see below)
Not much going on in this part of the Marsh yet, but nice day!
WHOA!!  Lotta water back here!
I mean a LOT of water!!!
With a little help from...Castor canadensis
This must hold water for a while, there's water lilies in it!  A nice bass hit and detached back in here
Beautiful male pumpkinseed!
Jmd123
Jmd123's profile picture
Oscoda, MI

Posts: 2474
Jmd123 on May 20, 2020May 20th, 2020, 12:02 pm EDT
Well, both our titanic rains and one of Mother Nature's aquatic mammals have been/are re-arranging the topography at the Marsh. I've seen the backwaters flooded but never like this, and a beaver has decided to augment/revise mankind's work to it's own engineering specifications. Well a marauding school of largemouth were cruising those backwaters and a nice one, bigger than in the photo, grabbed it and gave it back...fish that I could see were mostly skittish, until I found a shallow spot with lots of big swirls and then the big pumpkinseed started falling for a #10 Firefly in black and chartreuse. You could see 'em go for it as soon as it hit the water! Saw lots of painted turtles too, a green frog, a few violets and rue anemones flowering, profuse and lovely birdsong at the Marsh, and this morning an eagle soaring high above while standing on my front lawn!

Finally had a nice enough day to get out and do some comfort fishing while our streams are blown to pieces...gonna be pond fishing the next several days, plenty of places to go!

Jonathon

P.S. It's official: we had a 500-year rain event!
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 May 21, 2020May 21st, 2020, 11:58 am EDT
Jonathon, Im sure Clarks Marsh is quite similar to what the south end of Cedar lake was like when I was growing up. You could not access the south end of the lake in a boat unless you got out and drug the boat through the crap. But sunfish and huge bluegills and great largemouth all waited there for us. IN the early 70's dredgeing began and that was the end of some of most beautiful marsh you have ever seen!
Mike.
Martinlf
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Moderator
Palmyra PA

Posts: 3047
Martinlf on May 23, 2020May 23rd, 2020, 7:06 am EDT
Love those Punkinseed, as we call them down South. I've thought they'd make wonderful aquarium fish, if one had a big enough tank. Their colors can easily rival many tropical fish.
"He spread them a yard and a half. 'And every one that got away is this big.'"

--Fred Chappell

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