We decided last minute to fish the hex hatch at Almanor. I got the word this week that the hex was going off and I had a rare weekend with no plans so off we went. For the first time ever at Lake Almanor I rented a boat slip and boy was it a great call! It was so nice to drive into the slip late at night, tie off and just walk up to truck. In the mornings not having to launch was also a treat. I could get use to this!
We got to Plumas Pines on Thursday at 4pm and got settled (launched the boat and checked into our room) and had a great dinner at the restaurant. We motored out at 7pm and fished for smallmouth bass until about 8:30pm.
About that time we started seeing the hex here and there and before you know it they were hatching pretty good. The boys threw nymphs on T200 lines at first and the missed 2 grabs. Then we started seeing the fish boil on the duns so they grabbed their dry lines and cast to the boils. Michael hooked up with a feisty fish that took him for a ride! When the fight was over Matthew netted Michael’s 23 inch brown trout. They were so happy that we wasted lots of time taking some pictures, releasing the fish and chatting about how great that fish was. By the time we were ready to fish again, the activity on the water stopped and there were no more feeding fish on the surface.
The next day we fished looked for rising trout in numerous spots but did not find any so we fished for smallmouth the rest of the morning. The boys managed to land about a dozen fish but they were not that big. I bet the full moon shut them down a bit. We came in for lunch and dinner then headed back out for the hex hatch in the evening. The wind usually dies down after the sun goes off the water but this night it did not do so. We stayed out there and waited for the hex to come off in the wind and it did so later than usual and not very strong. We landed 2 that night (one on a cricket and one on a nymph under and indicator) and both fish were beautiful browns. Both boys were as happy as I’ve seen them. They really enjoy fishing and seeing the hex hatch.
The next morning we fished for bass again but it was super slow fishing. They got skunked for the morning! We decided to pull out early and we were home by 11:30am.
It’s been at least 3 years since I’ve fished the hex hatch and had forgotten how fun it was and with the boat in a slip, it makes fishing until dark much easier.