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Name this hatch ?

3K views 22 replies 7 participants last post by  extmtbiker 
#1 ·
I will be back later for the responses.

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#6 ·
The answer is

See link below

Will post the emerger/dun picture next.

Bobk, I'm disappointed in your guess, but I know how the eyes are in the 50s I can only imagine the 60s. :chuckle:

With our 60 degree temps here today we probably had some stone and maybe caddis hatches but not this species.

Be back later tonight.

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#11 ·
What a hatch

pmflyfisher, I have seen the Hexagenia limbata hatch that thick once before, whem I was in the Air Force...

I remember it well, being a jet engine mechanic at the time...

Imagine the smell of thousands of Hex's being cooked in the afterburner of the F-4 Phamtom.:eyecrazy:
 
#13 ·
Obvious....

Anything this obvious required a "dumb" but funny answer! But for size, you should see a salmon fly hatch! I have only been lucky enough to see one in my lifetime, but man - they are HUGE!

(BTW, no one was catching fish on imitations that day - but I was catching more than my share on a elk hair caddis???? Why??? Strange creatures, these trout!)

BobK
 
#14 ·
The answer is:

Genus and Species:
Family: Epherimidia
Other Common Name: Michigan Caddis
Emergence: June 20th to July 30th
Size: 18 to 33 MM (#2,4, and 6 hooks)
Nymph Habit: silt beds and mud banks, usually in shallow water along the streams edge

This is the famous Michigan "caddis hatch. It is not a caddis fly, but years ago some one called it that and confusion has reigned ever since.

Source Selective Trout: Doug Swisher and Carl Richards, 1971

John Desjardins

Emergence of the duns and the return of the spinners usually takes place at dusk, or well after dark, and on some nights after mid night The hex fly hatch is fished from 10 at night through 2-3 AM when the spinners return. You get your spot well before dusk and camp out waiting for dark. Then hope the hatch occurs and fish until 2-3 in the morning. Short strong leaders are needed since you have a great chance at a 20+ inch brown trout. This is when the big ones feed with abandon on the surface.

Brings lots of bug spray, multiple flash lights, know the area you are fishing intimately since putting a light on can put the fish down. Watch out for the night critters inthe air (bats, swallows) and water (beavers, musk rats, mink, deer, etc.) . Make sure you mark your trail on the way in with tissue paper or something similar if there are no fisherman trails. Very easy to get lost in the middle of the woods like me and my buddy did for a while on the South Branch of Ausable - Mason Tract years ago. Tissue paper saved us from more time in the mosquito infested michigan muck swamp at 2 AM !!

We had a great laugh after surviving that ordeal drinking cold beer at 3 AM in the middel of the Mason Tract fishing the Michigan Hex hatch.

Come on out I am looking for some one to go back with me for this unique trout dry fly fishing challenge.

Oh yes we caught only a few little ones that night.

Priceless !!
 
#20 · (Edited)
Light cahill

I did it from memory (E. Dorothea = light cahill) - I think. I may be wrong - dorothea may be a sulfur, but the LC was (and remains) my usual "Old Reliable" for the Catskills, esp. the B'kill. I still have some of Darbee's original ties in my fly box---and I use 'em!

BobK
 
#21 ·
Yep, Light Cahill was a got to fly there along with the Hendricksons, Quill Gordons, etc.

Shoot me out some of those Darbee originals if you have extras, spend an hour talking to him Harry and Elsie one weekday I played hooky from college to hit the Hendrickson hatches one may in the early 70s.

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