Hex Hatch – Northern Michigan Report
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For those that haven’t fished the Hex hatch before, it’s like nothing else I’ve ever experienced. Setting up early, waiting, waiting, and more waiting. The bugs start, and your heart races. You strain to hear the sound of the inevitable Brown Trout Grande throwing inhibition to the wind and gulping a river full of bugs nearly as big as your pinky finger. It’s pitch-black dark, the air is filled with the whir of wings, bats squeak as they feast in the air, and bugs periodically slam into you as they take flight. Sometimes the bugs are few and far between, and sometimes they’re so thick the river actually looks more like a conveyor of bugs than a flowing mass of water. The hex hatch is something that will amaze you, frustrate you, elate you, and surely captivate you.
Its impossible to catch the true experience in pictures, but I did my best to at least get a few shots.
One of the offerings:
The river:
What it’s all about, the bugs:
After arriving midday Saturday and getting the local reports, I settled into my desired spot at about 7:45 ready to wait for the bugs to start popping. I set up in the middle of a nice deep bend, and waited… The first hex arrived at 9:45, which were closely followed by an all-out down pour of rain for about 10 minutes. After standing through that, it was time for more waiting… Fish started feeding at a little after 10:00 and I strained my ears listening for the unmistakable rise of a large brown gobbling the over-sized mayflies. I heard a good one upstream and worked up to it. I set up right near where I had heard that fish feeding, and waited to zero in on his location. Unfortunately, two [s:2nzqwf5f]assholes[/s:2nzqwf5f] not very considerate fisherman in a drift boat decided to stop about 15 yards upstream of me, ignore the fact that I was standing right there flashing my flashlight at them to let them know I was fishing there, hop out of their boat, catch my fish (which turned out to be a fat 18″ brown), and then leave. Needless to say, I was not pleased at all. The rising fish shut down shortly thereafter (11:15 or so) and my continued waiting was unfortunately not rewarded with any more rising fish. I fished a mouse pattern back toward my car, but left without memories of bringing a big fish to hand.
It turned out to be a weekend of bad luck because Sunday, in the midst of an epic amount of bugs, I was stalking another fish. It sounded much bigger, but then again, they always do. Regardless, it was definitely a solid fish. Unfortunately, it was located in the absolute middle of a log jam. It was literally rising in a spot between the logs that was about 2 square feet of open water. To say that getting a drift in there was tough would be the understatement of the year. After many failed attempts, hang-ups, and straightened hooks from ripping flies out of hang-ups, I finally snuck right up to within a rod length away and just hung my fly down into the open water. The water exploded, I set, felt tension…and then nothing. Break off? Straightened hook? Pulled out? Nope. On the cast immediately before, I had pulled my fly out of getting hung up on a log and failed to check the hook for the first time that night. Of course, as luck would have it, the hook had snapped off at the bend. The fish that I had stalked for an hour or so had just risen to a hook-less fly. So I went home with memories of what could have been…for the second night in a row. My fishing buddies and I rendezvoused at the car, exchanging stories that included things like, “and then I heard it, an absolute sled-dog feeding just upstream” or, “I had the big one, and blew the hook set.”
The weekend ended with leaving the river at about midnight and settling in to telling stories and poring over my fishing buddy’s old fishing journal until the wee hours of the morning, of which the entries date back to the 70’s. I was fishing with a couple of family friends. They are brothers that had been fishing that area for longer than I have been alive. Needless to say, I was kept entertained by “remember that time when…” stories all night long. After a few hours of sleep, it was time to hit the road and make it back down-state in time for work. I’ll be back though, and I guarantee I’ll check my fly after every hang-up for the rest of my life.
I happened to run into fellow IA members Cameron M. and Spencer B., who were fishing a spot just downstream of where my buddies and I set-up. It was good meeting you guys! It was nice to put some names with faces, and I’m really looking forward to seeing them dump some pics because it sounded like they got into it pretty good…and they actually had hooks on their flies.
-Tim
Nice report Tim,
Those shots of the flies are unique and I didn’t even think to attempt that. Here are a few shots of some pics I touched between Friday night and Sunday night…
On a streamer:
On Hex Dry:
Tim…likewise it was very cool to meet you as well. I would have never expected that at 12:30 in the morning on an river access in Northern Michigan that I’d run into I.A. members. Thanks for stopping and talking last night.
We’re at my family’s lake house this week in Crystal and as great as this little lake town is, finding an phone and internet signal is tough. Tonight I’m borrowing the signal from the espresso shop in “downtown” Crystal while the family sleeps.
A few photographs from my night of Hex fishing with Spencer last night.
I left the lake house in the afternoon with a couple of pimento cheese sandwiches, a Coke, and a couple of hours to drive to make it into Grayling for a license and flies.
I can’t say enough about Old Au Sable Fly Shop. Great shop, great location, and great staff.
Got to stay hydrated while waiting out the Hex.
The Goods.
Spencer and I both had new seven weight McFarland Rod Company builds that were were flexing on this trip. I was VERY impressed with mine. As you can see…Spencer and I both have affections for old school J.W. Young reels.
We had about three hours to kills and it was perfect for taking some photographs, sip a couple bottles of Fat Tire, and smoke a cigar while watching small to medium size fish sip yellow stoneflies off the surface.
As darkness fell the gulpers started up along the other side of the river and just up from the downed structure. Spencer was a true guide and gave me first dibs on them. I soon hooked into an eighteen inch brown trout that gave a few head shakes, left the water, and tossed the Hex from his mouth. Damn…
Minutes later I hooked another fish that was just a beast to fight but it wasn’t until Spencer pulled his head out of the net did we realize how large this one turned out to be.
I don’t get to excited to be on the other side of the camera but this is the largest (22 inches) brown trout I have ever caught. The fact that he took a dry fly was just bonus.
Taking photos at night in the dark is tough. We mixed it up with flash and then no flash with just our headlamps putting light out. I took a lot of out of focus photos both ways but a few of them came out fine enough to post.
A while later I caught a second brown trout that gave quite a tussle on the seven weight.
There were bugs everywhere.
The night wound down to me trying to get a few Hex photos and hoping that Spencer would tie into the big brown trout he had been stalking all night.Thanks again to Spencer for taking me to his spot and putting me on a truly memorable fish.
Great reports guys. This is fascinating stuff. The hex hatch is definitely on my list.
Congrats on the fish Cameron!
I too got my shot at the hexes… I stung a couple of big ones but only was able to bring one 14 to the net… It was my first shot at the Hex in Michigan and it was a pretty cool experience…
Hexagenia Limbata
Got a nice spinner fall, and big fish were going crazy
only 14, but I was amazed at how full his belly looked — Tim, it looks like we threw the same pattern for a while 🙂 , I love the rubber legs it…
I will be chasing the bugs and hopefully some big fish for a few more days before they fizzle out… then mousin’ season begins…
Wow, wow, wow …. Damn … Great reports, you guys!
Tim: Those bug shots are way cool and your description was fantastic! I felt like I was waiting and disappointed right along with you.
Cam: Awesome photos and that brown …. !
Nate: That is one big ole bug in that fishes mouth!
Eric,
The weather cooled way down this week, which should prolong the hatch. I’m almost positive that it will still be going fairly strong this weekend. I’m planning to be back out there Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. If you can get away any of those nights I would be glad to take you out and show you some spots to fish. Otherwise, feel free to PM me if you’re looking for more info. The hatch will work its way upstream as it progresses, so keep that in mind.
Good luck,
TimI can’t wait to get back that way again, just saw TU on the Rise fishing there also so now I’m making my plans soon~
Great post and pics guys.
Cameron – Way to rock the pimento cheese sandwich. I am starving here at work and have been looking forward to going home and previously planned to grab a pimento cheese sandwich as a snack. Then I see this post, and now I am even more hungry!!!
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