First Tuesday Tips

Tip 6 : Experience the Hex Hatch at Least Once (or Twice)

(This is Tip 271 in Skip's book, 365 Fly Fishing Tips for Trout, Bass, and Panfish)

This First Tuesday Tips: Tip 6 applies to Trout in Streams and Trout in Lakes. 

First Tuesday Tips: Tip 6, Experience the Hex Hatch at Least Once (or Twice)

Hexagenia duns—by North American mayfly standards, mastadons.
(photo ©Carol Ann Morris)

The Hexagenia mayfly is a yellow giant. You mostly hear about it hatching in the Midwest, but Hexes hatch in the Far West, too. Apparently various species hatch in the East and even down into the American South.

A Hex hatch can be inspiring. Stout mayflies whose bodies cover half a man’s thumb, fluttering all around; trout, perhaps truly big trout, up swirling in a silvery gleam from the last sliver of the day’s light; a profusion of the great yellow bugs scattered across black water. . .

That last sliver of light is part of the bargain—Hexes normally wait until near dark to appear (although they can start earlier on really cloudy, perhaps drizzly days). This means you’re out on a river or a lake from almost full night to, in fact, full night—so know where you’re going to fish and go out and come back wisely and safely. (Hexes hatch from lakes and rivers both—from wherever, as burrowing nymphs, they can find that perfect silt they require.)

You’ll need big flies that look like Hexagenia, typically nymphs, emerger flies, and dries in the West, but often imitations of the spinner, I’ve often read, outside the West. (I don’t know why the difference.) And the flies need to approximate the size of the huge bugs; hooks should be at least size 8, 2X long, up to—gasp—size 2, 2X long (one of my books says 4X long).

You arrive a bit early, launch your boat or inflatable craft or sit where you can stake out your wade-fishing water, and finally (at least when I chase Hex hatches) about the time you’ve given up hope—they come.



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Skip has an essay in Big Sky Journal's annual Fly Fishing issue, called "Montana Hoppers: the Princess and the Brute" released February 1, 2023. Skip rewrote it a bit; I painted and illustrated it here, on our website. Here's the link on our web page to check it out:


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Top 12 Dry Flies for Trout Streams: How, When, and Where to Fish Them, is now available on Amazon as an ebook...check it out! Click on the links below to go to the information page on Top 12 Dry Flies (the link to Amazon is at the bottom of the page...)


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Top 12 Dry Flies for Trout Streams: How, When, and Where to Fish Them (the link to Amazon is at the bottom of the page)...

Top 12 Nymphs for Trout Streams: How, When, and Where to Fish Them, 2nd Edition, originally published as an e-book only, is now available on Amazon as a paperback...check it out! Click on the links below to go to the information page on Top 12 Nymphs (the link to Amazon is at the bottom of the page...)

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Top 12 Nymphs for Trout Streams: How, When, and Where to Fish Them (2nd Edition). . .



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500 Trout Streams...

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365 Tips for Trout, Bass, and Panfish...



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