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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.

Dorsal view of a Kogotus (Perlodidae) Stonefly Nymph from Mystery Creek #199 in Washington
This one pretty clearly keys to Kogotus, but it also looks fairly different from specimens I caught in the same creek about a month later in the year. With only one species of the genus known in Washington, I'm not sure about the answer to this ID.
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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Landscape & scenery photos from the Gulkana River

These seagulls live at the salmon-cleaning station during this time of year.

From the Gulkana River in Alaska
This float trip gave us a couple views of the distant peak of Mount Wrangell, an inactive volcano.

From the Gulkana River in Alaska
The Gulkana River in Alaska
The Gulkana River in Alaska
Small lake seen along the boggy hike into the river

From the Gulkana River in Alaska
Typical mosquito coverage on my hat during the hike in

From the Gulkana River in Alaska
Another nice rainbow around 16 inches
Seagulls were perched on the rocks watching for outmigrating juvenile sockeye salmon to get disoriented in the whitewater and bubble up to the surface where they can be grabbed. I caught one of them that hit my fly in mid-air and got hooked in the wing, but didn't get any pictures because I was too focused on releasing it. It was fine.

From the Gulkana River in Alaska
Looking upstream

From the Gulkana River in Alaska
My dad scrambles along the rocks at the base of this canyon as an 18-inch, wild Alaskan rainbow gives him the best fight he's ever had from a fish.

From the Gulkana River in Alaska
My biggest fish of the trip, a 21-inch rainbow. I caught this one after hooking two others that were at least as big and losing them when they took off downstream through the rapids.
Releasing the big one
Our campsite. Although nobody in their right mind walks the trail we took in to the river, the fishing spot and campsite see quite a bit of traffic from people doing a popular 4-5 day float trip.

From the Gulkana River in Alaska
Josh fishing the tail of a big pool in the rapids

From the Gulkana River in Alaska
The "trail" often disappeared completely into large swaths of muddy marsh grass or peat bogs

From the Gulkana River in Alaska
Josh fishing a good hole

From the Gulkana River in Alaska
A professional photographer (whose name I forgot to get) just happened to be nearby as I finished up my sockeye fishing with this hefty limit of fresh, tasty salmon.  He took several pictures with his good camera, which hopefully he'll be sending me soon, and he snapped this one with my point+shoot camera.
First view of the Canyon Rapids

From the Gulkana River in Alaska
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