It is a perfect evening for a Hex hatch: setting sun, wind still, and warm.
Bradley Pond is a 34-acre body of water located in Lovell, Oxford County, Maine (see The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer map 10 D2). To access this pond, go down Route 5 (Main Street) in Lovell, turn on Bradley Pond Road, and drive down this high-quality gravel road for 1.0 mile (turn right at the small “launch” sign). The public access point is on the left, at the northern end of the pond. The launch is unimproved, and can only accommodate canoes or kayaks. Also, motorboats are prohibited on the pond. The launch has enough space to park 2-3 vehicles.
This emerger wet fly is a good representation of the real thing.
I successfully trolled Bradley Pond for brown trout yesterday morning. While paddling around the pond, I was surprised to see dozens of large, 1.5-inch-long empty husks floating on the water surface. It took me a few minutes to realize what I was looking at. No way!! They appeared to be the fragile, translucent, tan exoskeletons discarded by the giant Hexagenia limbata mayfly emergers right before they metamorphose into winged adults. I also observed numerous large, individual insect wings sitting on the water surface. They had a triangular shape and a distinct greenish hue typical of the Hex fly. It certainly appeared that a large mayfly hatch occurred recently. That definitely gets my attention! Surprisingly, I did not observe a single dead adult caught in the water film with its wings splayed out (i.e., “spinners”). That would have been the nail in the coffin, but I surmise that those were all eaten by the resident browns.
I only saw a few of the winged adults this evening. The water is just too warm to trigger a big hatch.
Most Maine lakes that support Hex populations have hatches that typically occur between late June and mid-July, although local weather and water temperatures can shift the timing by a week or two. The optimum water temperature triggering maximum Hex hatching activity falls in the mid to high 60’s. The winged adults usually first appear on the water surface shortly before sunset, and hatching often continues well into darkness. Activity is highest on warm, calm, and humid evenings when mature, wingless nymphs leave their muddy burrows on the bottom and swim toward the surface as “emergers”. Right below the water surface, the emergers metamorphose into winged adults called “duns” which sit on the water surface for a while before fluttering off to continue their life cycle. Salmonids actively feed on the large, protein-packed emergers and winged adults. I decided that I needed to return this evening to try to catch brown trout on Hex flies!
I fooled this beautiful brown trout with my emerger fly!
I arrive at the Bradley Pond access point at 7 pm. Sunset is around 8:15 pm, with total darkness occurring around 9 pm. I have less than two hours to make something happen. I prepared two fly fishing rods before leaving home. The first one is a 6-weight rod holding a reel spooled with a sinking-tip line (i.e., only the first 10-12 ft. of the fly fishing line sinks through the water column, while the rest of the line floats on the surface) to which I tied a Hex emerger fly. The second one is a 4-weight fly rod holding a reel spooled with floating line to which I tied a large winged Hex dry fly. I put my canoe in the water and paddle off to a preselected location where I caught fish yesterday morning. I anchor near a dropoff over 18 ft. of water, relatively close to the shoreline. The conditions are perfect for Hex hatching: wind-still, cloudless, and warm, with a rapidly setting sun. My only concern is the temperature of the water: it has increased from 72°F yesterday morning to 74.5°F this evening. I fear that this upswing is pushing the temperature boundary well passed a critical point. We shall see…
But the Hex dry fly did not attract in any customers this evening…
At first, I do not observe any Hex flies anywhere on the water surface. I figure/hope that it is still a bit early in the evening, and that the emergers are working their way up to the surface. I cast out my sinking-tip line, count to 30 to allow the line and emerger fly to sink 10-12 ft. below the surface, and then very slowly retrieve the line to gradually bring the fly back up through the water column towards the canoe. It’s slow work. I have been at it for 20 minutes when I get a hit (which feels more like a sudden “weight”) and set the hook. I get an immediate angry response down below. YES! I hooked something! I am just hoping that it is not a largemouth bass… And indeed, it is not. I am fighting a gorgeous 20-inch brown trout that got fooled by my emerger fly. It gets netted and released. I am excited that my strategy bore fruit! I am also starting to see sporadic but substantial rises further out towards the center of the pond. I suspect that the browns are feeding on winged duns. I lift the anchor to move to deeper water. And then I finally see the first Hex dun floating by the canoe. I put away the rod with the emerger and start casting out the dry fly. I am so hoping for a hit on that fly! But nothing happens over the next hour. The hatching is really erratic: I see maybe 10 Hex flies on the surface all evening. The rises are also very scarce. One here, then nothing for 5-10 minutes, and then one over there. Darkness is quickly setting in and I have difficulty seeing my fly. The mosquitos are also making life miserable. I call it good at 8:45 pm, delighted to have caught that one brown trout, even though the Hex hatching on Bradley Pond appears to be essentially over for the season. I promise myself to return next year with my fly rods, but two weeks earlier!
The results: I caught one 20-inch brown trout in 1.5 hours of fishing.
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Tight Lines, y’all.
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