At the moment, fishing is taking precedence over making reels. Actually, I am creating the next design, but this involves short intervals of drawing and long intervals of thinking about what I have drawn. Some of this thinking can be done while “standing in a river, waving a stick”.

Here is the bug of the moment, Hexagenia limbata. The weather has been warm, so they are out about 2 weeks early. They appear on the mainstream and on the Manistee, but not here on the North Branch. I do hear reports that they emerge on Big Creek, a North Branch tributary.

This is my imitation.

Hook: 4x long streamer hook, size 6
Thread: heavy yellow
Tail: moose
Abdomen: long deer hair
Wings: long deer hair
Indicator: yellow foam

For the wing, I tie on a small bundle of hair pointing out over the eye. Then form outwards as two wings and secure with figure 8 wraps.