Hexagenia mayfly?

[dafack01 0]

I was fishing for Smallmouth at a stream in Frankfort, KY last night. Deep into the evening (though still about an hour away from sunset), I noticed these gargantuan mayflies cruising around. For perspective, we'll dip into the SAT's; regular mayflies is to these mayflies as a jet ski is to the USS Nimitz. A few of 'em were gettin' it on in mid-air, but most of them were flying around, just diving and then flying back up. I didn't see 'em hit the water, and most of the time they were doing this in one spot then darting off.

 

My best guess is that they would be somewhere in the #8-#4 range depending on shank length, for their bodies were a solid 1"-1.5" long. They had clear wings and long twin hair-strand-tail thingys out their butts. The whole fly would be about 3" long, give or take a quarter inch. All of 'em had brown bodies

 

Did I just see for the first time one of the fabled Hexagenia mayflies?

 

Sorry, no pictures. This description is all I've got.

[chrisfish 0]

sound like the big mayflies we get here in illinois in the summer.

 

Big 1- 1.5 inchers. and they hach out in the billions. for a few days

[Alex C. 0]

Coulda been, could have also been litobrancha recurvata. Seems awful late for that region, especially in a lake.

[Taxon 0]

dafack01-

 

What you observed was a mating swarm. It is composed of mostly males. The female enters the swarm, to select a mate.

 

Here is a nice photo of a male Hexagenia imago taken by Sean McCann of Vero Beach, Florida.

 

Does this photo look like the mayflies you observed?

[dafack01 0]

Coulda been, could have also been litobrancha recurvata. Seems awful late for that region, especially in a lake.

 

 

It was a stream, not a lake if that helps.

[dafack01 0]

dafack01-

 

What you observed was a mating swarm. It is composed of mostly males. The female enters the swarm, to select a mate.

 

Here is a nice photo of a male Hexagenia imago taken by Sean McCann of Vero Beach, Florida.

 

Does this photo look like the mayflies you observed?

 

 

No, that is too colorful. These mayflies were a solid dark brown.

[Ethan Bright 0]

I've never encountered Litobrancha recurvata in large numbers. In many parts of Michigan I've found them only in small cool-water brooks to cold-water outwash trout streams in the upper part of the Lower Peninsula (e.g., Boardman, Sturgeon, Black, Pigeon, Au Sable, Pine, etc.). I also think I collect a nymph or two from the windswept portion of a cold, oligotrophic lake in the Huron Mountains of Marquette Co. Again, never in large numbers, so I'd doubt there would be the emergence numbers that more frequently encounteres with Ephoron spp., Ephemera spp. or Hexagenia sp.

 

Still, if you collect Litobrancha recurvata subimagoes or imagoes that are in good shape, I'd like to have some (and would reimburse for postage).

 

Cheers, Ethan