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HEX: The Ultimate Experience For Huge Brown Trout! By Capt. Tony Petrella
It was the twenty-second of June, and the night was dark and gloomy except for fireflies sparkling in the trees like thousands of tiny shooting stars. Nasty squadrons of mosquitoes dive-bombed every bit of warm, exposed skin. The humidity wrapped around me like a hot mask. “Perfect,” I whispered softly to myself. “This is going to be the night when it happens. I just know it.” Anticipation suddenly became reality when a “ker-sploosh” in the water sounded as if someone was throwing chunks of concrete at us. “Good God!” I heard. The cry came from 30 yards upstream, where Ray Poirer was standing waist-deep in the Manistee River. Directly opposite from me, hidden by the darkness, Frank Janka muttered a hushed curse, followed by the quiet observation: “That was a damn big fish!” He didn’t know the half of it. Not just then. Without question, the best way to hook a lot of really large trout is by fishing the world-famous Hexagenia limbata hatch in north-central Michigan during the last half of June and early July. The “Hex,” as it’s simply called, is the largest mayfly in the world. And when the hatch or spinner-fall happens, it’s like tossing raw meat at a pack of sharks. What’s “a lot of large trout?” Well, if you’re on the right stretch of river and the temperature doesn’t nosedive, and you have the right pattern and don’t get so nervous that you forget how to cast, you will have shots at a half-dozen brown trout—maybe even more--between 20 and 30 inches long and perhaps weighing eight or ten pounds. Several more fish in the 16-inch to 19-inch class also will be churning the water within casting distance at the same time, and even jaded old anglers with dirty vests and way too many fly boxes get a little bit wild-eyed under such circumstances. Having said that, here are the specifics of Where, When, and How. You already know Why. Where to FishVery few Michigan trout streams have conditions suitable for Hex. Typically, the Big Sable River, near the village of Freesoil in Mason County, has the first hatch--usually between June 12 and 15--but it sometimes occurs as much as a week earlier. Soon after, between the 15th and 17th, the hatch starts on the Pere Marquette River, near Baldwin, and on Bear Creek and the Little Manistee River near Wellston. The lower Pine River, also near Wellston, usually is the last in that area to produce Hex, often lasting until July 9. A bit further to the northeast, near the town of Grayling, the Hex are prolific on the Manistee River downstream of route M-72, and on the Mainstream and South Branch of the Au Sable River beginning around June 15 and lasting through July 4. Best bets on the Mainstream are between Wakeley Bridge and Parmalee Bridge. The South Branch is excellent from Chase Bridge downstream to Smith Bridge, especially in the Mason Tract. Remember, though, that the hatch moves upstream. “You shudda been here last week” is never more appropriate than during the Hex hatch. Call or e-mail for the latest report or you could spend a lonely night sitting on the riverbank with no finny playmates. Also keep in mind Michigan’s Recreational Trespass law, which allows you to step out of the river on private property only to the high-water mark. Floating the rivers in a canoe, Mackenzie-style driftboat, or Au Sable Longboat can be extremely productive because you can cover an awful lot of water and get away from the madding crowd that the Hex attracts. Next in importance obviously is hitting the hatch and/or spinner-fall. And that directly ties into the weather, because both the water AND air temps have to be in sync. Which means a thermometer is absolutely the most critical part of your fishing tackle. Because the hex nymph burrows into soft, black muck for its two years of incubation, it’s dependant upon the heat of the sun to bake the mud to 68 degrees. Once that happens, the duns start popping to the surface between dusk (about 9pm at that time of the year in Michigan) and approximately 11pm. You might also encounter a secondary hatch between 2am and 4am if you’re young enough, hardy enough, and willing enough to pull an all-nighter. But, and it’s a huge qualifier, air temperature dictates what happens after the initial hatch. If cold night air causes water temps to drop, the hatch is finished for that night. It also means there will not be a spinner-fall because the duns will stay in the streamside vegetation rather than venturing out into the cold air. There have been many occasions when eager anticipation of a blizzard-like spinner-fall has been wrecked because the air temp fell below 60 degrees. Probably the easiest aspect to fishing the Hex is selecting the proper bug. Put simply, you tie on either a dun or a spentwing as conditions dictate. The only trick is when you simultaneously have hatchers and spinners on the water. Then it’s just a matter of trial-and-error to find out which stage the fish are eating. There seem to be an infinite number of dun and spinner patterns in every fly shop you visit. Buy a several different styles. They can range in color from pure white to butter yellow, with plenty of variations, and it’s wise to have plenty of ammunition. Now we come to the “Buck Fever” part of the equation. It’s easy for even an experienced angler to get rattled when a dozen or more fish are feeding around you and some of them sound like bowling balls being heaved into the river. It’s really not difficult to sight-fish for these huge browns. The ambient light is brighter than you might imagine, and the riseform when they feed is extremely obvious. What IS difficult is not shooting at the entire covey. The key is to pick a fish and make a drag-free downstream cast to that target. Once these big guys come out from hiding under the logjam they call home, they’re very intent on getting a bellyful of bugs as quickly as possible and then scooting back to safety. That means pick a target and make your cast using a 6-weight rod with 4X fluorocarbon tippet. If the fish refuses to eat after three or four good drifts over his head, tie on a different fly. If he still won’t eat after showing him two or three different patterns, pick a new target. This isn’t the time for stubbornness—find one that WILL eat before the hatch or spinner fall ends. Oh, yes. One last thing. You might wonder just how big these brown trout actually get. Remember Frank Janka and Ray Poirer? Their awe-struck wails? Well, Frank hooked that big buck of a brown trout on his third cast that night on the Manistee River. It crashed around the water for several minutes as “Paco” put on the pressure. “Whoa, big fella,” Paco muttered. “You’re staying right here with me.” After a few more minutes, I heard him quietly say: “Get the net, Captain. I’ll lead him over to you.” As I quietly slipped the net underneath a fish that was quite obviously 30 inches long, it gave one last primal shudder and the fly fell from its mouth. All three of us were quiet then, for one agonizing second, before that great fish quietly slipped back under the dark water. “Damn,” Paco said. “That’s the biggest trout I ever hooked. Certainly bigger than anything I’ve caught in New Zealand. I swear it was every bit of eight pounds.” Yep. And that fish is still there in the Manistee River. Waiting for you. >))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))> Capt. Tony Petrella chases tarpon, snook and redfish out of Venice half the year, and brown trout and brookies in northern Michigan the other half. |
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