Name This Mayfly

[JackM]

Albatross and I went to Slippery Rock Creek tonight hoping to catch the tail end of the whitefly hatch. We did see a good number of whiteflies, but the fly pictured below was in equal if not stronger force. Is this Hexagenia Limbata? And, I assume it is the spinner. Any confirmation?

 

[albatross]

Here's my picture with my size 4 imitation...

The smallmouth thought both of these looked pretty tasty!

 

[Maurice]

Big slate drake....but the pics look a little out of hue and focus is poor. Spinner of course, based on the wings.

 

[FarmerDave]

Name that mayfly?

If it is a female, I'll go with Sally. No, wait! Definitely a Kathy. I know a Kathy in college, and she used to bug me.

I'd have to agree with Maurice.

 

[sandfly]

slate drake............. you can tell by the front legs in the praying position and color..its a spinner female

(sally slate was her name, when a brownie took her for dinner) :-D

 

[JackM]

So the white-tipped front legs (typical of Isonychia) are only in the dun? Or only the male?

 

[PennKev]

I don't think that is a slate drake. I second your assumption that it is a type of hex. I have observed the very same mayfly in your picture many times while fishing Slippery Rock and have even captured some. I've also observed slate Drakes in our area and they can in no way be confused with the fly in your picture. Also, The body coloration and robust thorax and legs on the fly in your pic is more consistent with a hex than any other fly.

Here is a link with some pictures of various Hexes (Hexegenia atrocaudata appears to be a very close match):

Hexes

And here are some slate drakes.:

Slate Drakes

It's hard to mistake one for the other once you've seen them both.

Kev

 

[schrec]

Jack,
I'm 90 percent sure that's a hex. I know for a fact they hatch every year at this time in fair numbers on Slippery Rock. They come off at dusk, usually starting just before the whites start coming off. They fly forcefully upstream, sometimes hitting me like someone throwing rocks. Big bugs they are.

How did you guys do by the way? I went last week and had a ball. Caught tons of dinks, a few 10 to 13, and two pigs. All in an hours fishing!

rising fish always
schrec

 

[FarmerDave]

I was going by the second picture. Looks like a slate to me. the first picture, the colors appeared to be way off. I still can't tell for sure when comparing the original pictures to the new examples provided. I withdraw my original answer, and my new answer is: Yous guys need to work on your photography skills. :-D

 

[JackM]

The top picture was taken at my home under poor light conditions(I captured the bug so I could look closer at some of the features. The paper with the fly and quarter was bright white, so the lighting shows a slight yellow "filtering." The second picture by Albatross was taken with his cell phone camera as it sat on my white car next to his fly. Since the car top is appearing white, the coloration in the second picture is more accurate, however, the focus seems better in mine. To the eye, the underside was a pale tan color with thin darker brown segmentation. The top on the abdomen was a dark olive color. The tails were two in number and black. As can be observed also in the pictures, the forelegs were dark and the other legs light tan. I believe, but won't swear, that there was no striping on any of the legs.

Shrec, we were pelted by these guys a few times. It was like a small bird ramming into you.

I made a few minor color adjustments and this may be closer to actual, though not perfect:

 

[FarmerDave]

Jack, for the record, from you rpicture i was thinking Hex, but the other looked more mohogany, so i was thinking slate, but the slates I've seen didn't seem to be as wide. I'm switching my answer to hex, but with considerable uncertainty. your description sounds more Hex like.

 

[JackM]

Compare the fly to the quarter-- that would be a pretty big slate drake, wouldn't it?

 

[Padraic]

JackM wrote:
Compare the fly to the quarter-- that would be a pretty big slate drake, wouldn't it?

The slate drakes that come off the Susquehanna are that size, maybe bigger.

 

[Maurice]

I never said it was pretty....I just said it was big...for the record. :lol:

 

[tomgamber]

How abut now, Jack?

 

[JackM]

That looks good, too. But now that I've seen so many, I can't remember the natural. You did get the paper white....

 

[afishinado]

Attached is a link to “Troutnut” with photos of both the Hex and Slate Drake. It’s looks like a Hex to me.

http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/601


http://www.troutnut.com/hatch/93/Mayfly-Isonychiidae-Slate-Drakes