Almanor Hex

[Mike O]

Neighbor just got back from Almanor. I have been attempting to corrupt his grandsone by offering free flies. They brought me back a Hex for a thank you. Nice bug, never seen one before. They said the bugs and cripples were all over from about 8-9:30 then the fish stopped eating. Kid caught one on a tan chernobyl style fly. He's hooked. He wants me to tie him some Hexes...I hate extended body flies. He is going back up for two weeks in late July, early Aug...what is happening up there around then? What kinda flies on the surface?

Gotta corrupt the youth.

Mike

[cyama]

Here is an easy dry to tie up. Lincoln's stillborn Hex. It was pretty windy around Almanor this last weekend. Drove up 89 about 70 miles farther and found some nice trout on soft hackles.

If anyone wants to learn how to fish the hex hatch contact Lance or Lincoln Gray. Mercer also has a great hex nymph.

http://stillwaterflyfishingadventures.com/yahoo_site_admin4/assets/docs/March_2012.76224800.pdf

[Mike O]

Thanks for the fly pattern...will have to tie some up...looks easy enough

[Lincoln Gray]

I fished it last night, it is definitely ON! Bugs were everywhere and the fish where feeding. We did very well and other anglers the same.
I would hit it before it is over. Just a side note, they just planted around 15,000 brown trout at Canyon Dam.
Enjoy, if you anyone has questions you can PM me.
Dry Fly Flies: Milt’s Paracripple, Gray’s Stillborn
Intermediate Flies: Gray’s Hex Nymph, Gray’s TS Bugger “Hex” and Rickard’s Seal Bugger (Burnt Orange/Medium Olive.

Happy “Hexing”!

[ycflyfisher]

I’m certainly no expert when it comes to Hexagenia and I’ve only been fishing the Hex hatch for 3 years and only have maybe a total of 12-15 evenings on the water when the bugs were coming off. Not exactly a large sample size. But “Neally’s Hex Adult” is simply the bomb when it comes to Hex dries IMO and outfishes the more traditional through the film type emerger patterns by a wide margin for me. This pattern despite the name, doesn’t look like the more typical dun patterns and fishes much more effectively for me when I fish it as a fluttering emerger. I think it was designed to be more of a hybrid fly. Not really a dun, but a nearly emerged dun fluttering furiously to escape the shuck. The first year I fished the hex I either simply threw this pattern out and let it sit, or threw it in front of rising fish and then let it sit. I thought it was fairly useless after that first year as I was the only angler in my group not to land a trout on a hex dry in 3 trips. I got one or two grabs, but they were to the more traditional “through the film” type patterns late in the hatch.

The way I fished the pattern changed the second year. I now nearly constantly, but very slowly (about 1” per second) strip this pattern in. At that pace, it kicks up (at least from my side of the surface) a small vibratory wake that looks to me to be identical/similar to the wake of a real fluttering hex, slowly motorboating across the as it drags the shuck parallel to the surface behind it as it tries to escape. I have no idea why the fish key on this fly (even over the real deal) but I’m convinced that the movement of this bug with the slow strip is the key.

The first year, just pitching this bug and leaving it sit I was the “inept” angler who couldn’t buy a hook up.

The second year I fished the hex for more of the season and was usually high rod for the evening or close to it, once I started stripping this pattern.

This year in three evenings I’ve been up there, the angler whom I was fishing with hasn’t gotten a rise yet, and all the anglers that I’ve compared notes with when coming off the water have accounted for 1 grab and 1 refusal (in a total of ten angler evenings). By their account it hasn’t been “hot” or even “on”. It’s sucked for them. I’ve averaged better than 5 grabs a night on this pattern, and can’t wait to get back up there because I haven’t seen an evening yet where there have been insane numbers of bugs or rising fish.

I’d love to be able to state that this massive catch rate discrepancy is due to my unparalled fish catching prowess, and superhuman ability to put a “hex” on anything with fins. I think it is more likely due to an extremely well designed pattern, that simply fishes like gangbusters when you apply some subtle movement to it. This IMO is one of those rare patterns that actually can make a huge difference.

As the hatch peters out, and there are only cripples left on the water, this pattern does totally lose effectiveness for me.

I’ve never seen a recipe for this bug, but I use elk for the wing and moose for the tail. I grease the tail so that the hair sticks together.