My dad held the canoe in place while I snapped a picture of this immature bald eagle perched in a pine over the river on an August evening. It probably caught more fish than we did.
Several large stoneflies recently emerged and left their nymphal skins on this log in fast water. Imitating the fluttering adults helped me hook a couple trout.
This is the skin a brown drake dun shed when it molted into a spinner. Many of these were on the surface one afternoon, having been blown in after the flies molted on overhanging alders. They were our most noticeable sign of an intense brown drake hatch the previous night and a spinner fall to come.
This video shows just how blizzard-like the Hexagenia limbata hatch can be. I only wish my digital camera had had respectable video capability back in 2005.
The Namekagon is not known as a Hex hatch river, for good reason: the hatch is extremely rare and localized, and there are often few if any trout where the Hexes are. During this trip I caught nothing and heard no risers, but it was still a memorable night out in the middle of nowhere.
Dragonfly nymphs propel themselves through the water with a miniature jet engine, taking water in below their mouths and shooting it out their back ends. You can see the ripples from the jet out this one's back in this video.
The Namekagon is not known as a Hex hatch river, for good reason: the hatch is extremely rare and localized, and there are often few if any trout where the Hexes are. During this trip I caught nothing and heard no risers, but it was still a memorable night out in the middle of nowhere.