Grab a popper or chug bug and get out there, the aggressive males will let you know where there at. Haven't been on the river in a month but made up for that in one night. Right spot at the right time maybe but none the less have not caught that many #'s since the crazy summer feed bag last year. Not a fish over 16" so I didn't but out the camera but still a blast none the less. Just worked the chug bug in the heavier current aggressively through the carpet of flies. Only hard part was trying to keep up with the aggressive school constantly on the move.this shot is not grainy, just a cloud of bugs for the I can see. Almost like a fog. Wish I had the time to put up a better post but I don't so have to keep it short and sweet. If you run in to this out there give it a shot, could be a good day for you.

Ill try and repost these pics, not sure why they look so crappy and only a quarter of the pic is showing up. They don't look that bad in my photo gallery.

Save them smaller (640x480 works well for me), and then repost.

Good job out there, hatches can be hit or miss.

Hey Special Ed!

That looks like a Hex hatch! Did that happen just at dark? Would love to see that...doesn't seem to happen around the St Charles area...not too many riffles there. Would you be willing to share the area? Please see my post of today about my Apple River adventure on Saturday...it was great! Are you the musician as well?

Sorry Ed...it was Adam that posted that report. Haven't seen a Hex hatch around here...used to happen on the KKK at dusk fairly often. Love to see it...JT

GreatfulDad wrote:Sorry Ed...it was Adam that posted that report. Haven't seen a Hex hatch around here...used to happen on the KKK at dusk fairly often. Love to see it...JT

Well I tried to fix pics as best as I could but the resolution just will not come through when transfering pics from my cell to the cpu. The hatch was one massive 1/2 mile long cloud producing an awesome buzz along the river. As I had pulled up to the river they had already made there way onto the road and it sounded like a rain storm on the wind shield driving through it. I have never seen anything like it in my 3 or 4 years on the fox. Pan fish were feeding on the hatch, bass and others were beating up on the pan fish and the carp were just belly floping all over the place. As it got dark it about scared the shit out of me a few times with the size of some of the carp jumping. Oddly as the hatch flowed down river the fish seem to be moving up river. Had about a 30 minute window of great action and then they were out of reach but the bugs just remained a fog in the area.

Sweet!

Got to see the smaller version of that on Saturday evening. The fish had yet to turn on though and the river was still a bit higher. Got close up details of the bugs and even looked up the name, but I forget.

I must have had a nice time up north. Forgot everything I did last week.

It's great stuff to see when it happens. Right time, right place Adam. You can't beat it.

Hey Adam-

Which size chug bug do you prefer? I've got the bigger version and managed to recreate your success on the last hatch up here. I had to fish the bait really aggressively to get a bite, but once I figured it out I got in them pretty good. Same story, all smaller fish, all out in faster current. Casting upstream. Heh.

You ever fish a Sammy 100? They're too expensive, so I started painting some cheaper blanks instead. Once I figured out how to get a really thin topcoat they worked pretty well.



This isn't really a pattern I'd prefer for the Fox, but I'm going to try it out anyhow...

My favorite top water walking bait is a Excalibur Jimmy houston bait. Not sure what it is called but I do know they don't make it anymore... Spittin Image comes to mind . I can walk this bait effortlessly on a spin bait rod and reel something I find hard to do with other top water style baits.