Lets Talk Bugs

 The canoe glided smoothly as I paddled past other several other fishermen wading up-stream to their stream side station in preparation for the HEX hatch. My favorite spot is a small island around which the current flows forming an ox-bow-like curve on one side. I slid my canoe along side the island and unloaded gear.

 As I readied myself and made practice casts to learn distances and current patterns it was evident to me that I was part of a complex series of events – a sequence of anticipated behaviors. Behaviors occurring at the same latitude across Wisconsin,Michigan and Minnesota, involving trout fishers and the creatures of the environs we visit on June nights.

 It was near 7:00pm and eastern flycatchers, yellowthroat warblers called from stream side bushes and trees; cedar waxwings and tree swallows made darting flights across the sky. The moon was becoming visible; fishermen were talking quietly downstream and dew began to form on the long grasses around 8:00pm. A lone HEX dune rose to fly toward the trees, but was swept from flight quickly by the cedar waxwings. A few caddis flies zigzagged across the water and occasional tiny midges and small may flies triggered soft rises. The sun is down, the air feels cool and damp, no wind.

 While it is still light enough, the last checks are made – fly, knot and float dressing. The calling of the whip-poor-will begins and other birds are diminished. The stage is set for the HEX spinner fall. With an unheard turning of the switch at 9:10pm the spinners swarm over the stream and are easily visible against the moon. An occasional sharp sound of a hard rise begins up-stream, now mixed in are softer rises; then the browns rise all around in the current – some soft, some hard, some unheard.

 My fly is one of hundreds now on the water – I see only spinners – and try to offer mine to the sounds of the rising along the cut bank and adjacent to the weed beds. Hook-ups are few and far between. The swarming males dance over the stream and clasp females with their legs as they fly up through the swarm. After mating the females dive and fall to the surface. The bats now make their appearance at the feast and lightening bugs intermittently glow in the grasses.

 I don’t mind the low hook-up rate – I love being a part of “the event”. The dancing has slowed and will soon stop; only the spinners, having spent themselves mating and laying eggs, turn and twist in the current as they float and are carried on and beneath the surface. The tempo of the rising is slower, but constant. Tonight it is 11:00pm and feeding continues; in subsequent nights the spinner fall will end earlier. One Friday evening the cold temperatures prevented all but a few spinners to appear; however, on Saturday we found them back again.

 I did not see many dunes rising, but I am sure they rose after dark to roost in trees and shed their husks for tomorrow’s event. I drift downstream along with the remaining spinners, some trout rise and I quietly guide my canoe past dark shadows of trout fishers.

 I hope you had a pleasant experience this year with the HEX hatch; if you did not get out, reserve some time for the second week in June 2006 – you will have a great time. Remember as you traverse our God given streams in search of trout,”take the time to pick up rocks and look at bugs”.

 Tom Lager

I reached down and gathered a handful – some trapped in the surface film, others submerged and still others quiet after completing their last act. These are the reason fishers arrive early to stake out their spot like sentries on-post, waiting at every river bend and water worn hole for the event of early June. These are “The Hex”, the Hexagenia limbata (Serville), the giant mayflies of early June, the subject of whispering among friends – “The Hex is on”!

It is amazing what one mayfly event will do. It causes a stirring across the region – we leave work early, we travel for hours to gather at streams, hoping to be first at the spot. We are secretive, competitive and defenders of territories. But we also realize a unique sequence of events long harmonized between this mayfly and trout; long triggered by natural events and fine tuned by the evening sunsets, air and water temperature, rain events, winds and water levels.

Although there is a secretive and competitive side to this event, there is also the sharing of the experience. This June on the White was typical. I fished as I have for years with Tony, I met Steve at one of his favorite spots – he let me guide my canoe past; I met and made new friends - Andy and Shawn. Shawn shared flies and we realized we shared common experiences like working for the DNR, canoeing Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness and late nights on the White. I had the pleasure of fishing with Lars – a new friend who grew up in Norway – we learned from each other. I met Ron Manz’s brother (Ron, the Boise Brule guide who put me onto the best Trico fishing I have had) and gave him a ride up river in the canoe. He has fished the White for 40 years! His stories, his perspective on the river and it’s trout – an unexpected view of the heritage of the White.

And then there is the “gathering at the bridge” at the close of evening. In the dark, with muffled voices fishers gather from up-stream and below. The atmosphere is relaxed and inquisitive; successes are volunteered in vague detail, you would not expect more would you? It is very peaceful and a place difficult to leave.

The truth behind all of this are the values we treasure, keep and share. The resource we spend so much time protecting is typified by a bug, “The Hex”, a creature of His making. This bug certainly is not the only icon, but doesn’t it draw us to remote river banks and make us wait with anticipation for 9:15 pm, 64 degree F, light breeze and moon light until 11:30 pm. While there waiting; take time to strain through the dark organic muck along the banks of the White and you will find The Hex larvae. Find where these organic flats drain into the main river flow and you will see emergences of the dun stage (imago stage) and find the waiting trout.