It's Hexy-Time

That’s right ladies and gentleman, its Hex time here in Great Falls.

For those of you who don’t know what a Hex is, it is time to learn. Hexagenia limbata or Hex for short are the largest hatching mayfly species discovered to date.

As an adult, the Hex can grow to be 4-6" from head to tail and has a wing-span to match. Their habitat is constricted to streams and lakes that consist of extensive mud flats (i.e. the lower Sun River, Belt Creek, and Missouri) because they’re burrowers during their life as a nymph. Hex hatches have been noted to be so thick in the Midwest that their emergence can be recorded via Doppler radar.

The Hex emergence is very impressive. Beginning just before twilight, the nymphs explode to the surface and hatch while on the surface film. When they break the surface they make a dimple on the water so big one could easily confuse them for multiple rise-forms (it really is a sight to see).

The emergence and spinner fall brings so much biomass to the surface that literally all species of fish in the system will eat on top (I have heard stories of people catching sauger and walleye on Hex spinners not far from town).

The only down-fall when fishing the Hex hatch is there are so many naturals on the water that it can be hard to out compete them (try fishing your offering one size bigger than the naturals and I you’ll have happy results).

Here are some pics of dead naturals found outside of our farming room here at the store.