The Hexagenia Mayfly hatch brings on some of the most exciting smallmouth bass fishing one can find. These duns hatch and the spinners return the last hour of daylight in September. They are not spread throughout all parts of the rivers since the nymphs live in silty stream bottoms. However, where they are thick the fishing is great. For example, one cool September evening I counted 17 bass rising to feed one hexagenia in one measured minute in the pool I was fishing. I put on a Mr. Rapidan Dry Skater size 8 and caught many nice bass until it got dark.
An effective technique in water over three feet deep is to cast 20 degrees downstream with 30 to 40 foot casts where you see rising bass or to good looking water and twitch the fly slowly across the surface. If I spot bass rising to the hexagenia in water less than 3 feet deep I wade upstream and cast upstream to them going one on one with them just as I do rising trout.
Some of the sections of the rivers where I find heavy Hex hatches are the extreme upstream sections of the streams above dams, in areas where there are 4 to 6 foot deep cuts downstream of river-crossing ledges, the slow sides of the river below heavy riffles and large back eddies. These areas have silty stream bottoms that hold many Hex nymphs and thus produce great hatches and exciting fishing.
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