lake erie mayfly hatch

[GeorgeMcFly]

1st time I could photograph the mayflies here. seen these hatch today all and land everywhere including all over my house. I live a block from lake erie and these come off every year along with some midges. what species are these and what dries and wets will work for um to match the hatch. recipes?? any help would be wonderful

 

[shorthaul]

George
the big one in the middle is a hexeginia limbata aka "hex" --aka "canadian soldiers"---they came off so heavy in the 50's that they used front end loaders to clear the streets when the female spinners laid eggs on the streets ,thinking they were rivers, skidding cars through intersections---i read an extended temperature inversion stratified lake Erie and they died from lack of oxygen and in turn was the staple food of the blue pike and brought about thier demise (a smaller and blue tinted species in the walleye family).

Ive seen the darker ones which are definitely smaller but never caught one and got out the books and identified it--possibly a Brown drake?

 

[Frank Whiton]

Hi GeorgeMcFly,

Here is a foam HEX that might work for you. You can adjust the body color to suit you. Maybe even a little coloring on the top of the body. I think you could shape the wing better.

Frank

Fly Shop Foam HEX

 

[HuronRiverDan]

George, I would say they are all Hexagenia; assuming they were all the same size. The darker colored one is probably a freshly hatched dun, the lighter colored ones would be approaching the mating and egg laying stage. One of the imitations I use is a Robert's Yellow Drake. Yellow died deer body hair, white deer hair from the belly, and a barred saddle hackle wound parachute style around the wing...About everything that swims will eat them. If there's a hex hatch on the Vermillion you can have a ball with the Smallies!

Dan

 

[HuronRiverDan]

Sorry, typing to fast and submitting before I finish reading my post. The yellow hair is placed along the hook shank and wrapped with yellow thread to lock it down, tie some moose mane on the rear for a tail or you can use pheasant tail fibers. The white belly hair is used for a wing, wrap your hackle around it and you're ready to fish...

Dan

 

[shorthaul]

dan---

ive been seeing the browner ones for a couple years now---the duns are very brown and couple sizes smaller than the hex---i havent seen any yet this year but had a few hex on my screens today. Im suprised the nymphs can get past the gobies .

 

[GeorgeMcFly]

thanks for all the help guys. I have no yellow deer hair but I do have yeelow foam and also dry fly dubbing in just about every color. will see what I can come up with.

 

[shorthaul]

george ---ya gotta stay up late to see anything eating them (except birds)---they hatch and mate from dusk til well after dark

 

[GeorgeMcFly]

this was in my morning paper today. that naturalist got it all wrong! she got midges confused with mayflies?? a canadian soldier is a species of mayfly commonly known as hexagenia. she is describing midges that also hatch and saying that these are in fact mayflies instead??? I wrote the journal to let them know of the mixup. hopefully they fix it or everyone will think midges are mayflies and so forth! heres the article. this is a metro parks naturalist to boot haha...

"Summertime is upon us which means hot weather, swimming, cookouts, graduation parties and unfortunately, bugs. It's bad enough mosquitos are out biting everything in sight, but residents of Lorain can expect a visit from a couple of other unwanted insects, better known as Canadian soldiers and Mayflies. The Canadian soldier, which many people describe as a ''big mosquito,'' is coming back for its yearly visit.
People who live near the lake can expect to see a swarm of these annoying critters.
''The biggest misconception is that Canadian soldiers and Mayflies are the same,'' said Mary Ewers, a Lorain County Metro Parks naturalist.
Ewers said that Mayflies are smaller and make a high-pitched buzzing sound, and begin to come around in mid-May. Canadian soldiers are longer-tailed and their wings stick up like a butterfly and arrive at the beginning of summer.

heres a mayfly. actually says Common names for mayflies include "dayfly", "shadfly", "Green Bay Flies", "Canadian soldier", and "fishfly" Mayfly - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

heres a midge aka muckleheads or sandflies as I call um.. Chironomidae - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[HuronRiverDan]

George, it may not have been the naturalist who screwed up the information...Reporters confuse the facts a lot of the time..

Dan

 

[GeorgeMcFly]

makes sense seeing as tho they never wrote me back haha! :wink: