Hex Mud

[Ed_D]

A friend recently made a Facebook post on getting caught in a patch of quicksand while hiking and camping in the SW US. I posted back about getting caught in "hex mud" in the Au Sable River in Michigan. Another friend asked if hex mud is real, since she couldn't find it in Google. I sent her a brief description. Now I'm in danger of hex mud being viewed as a fish story. Google and Bing have failed, at least in the first several pages of responses, to provide corroboration. Does anyone know of an available source in print which describes or at least mentions hex mud?

Thanks,
Ed

[rainbowchaser]

I'm not sure of the nomenclature but I've been up to my thighs in the silt and mud that the hex nymphs love to burrow in. On one occasion when I carelessly stepped into an older beaver pond I had to throw my rod back on the bank and drag myself clear by pulling on the long grasses bordering the pond. I could probably have swam out but I preferred not to go over my waders.

[Kaboom1]

Ed
Here is somewhat of an explanation. Scroll down to the biology section.

http://www.troutnut.com/hatch/32/may...ia-limbata-hex

Brad

[Ed_D]

Thanks Guys. I am familiar with the mud, the weed which indicates where it is, and its utility to the nymphs of Hexagenia limbata. I was hoping to find a mention of "hex mud" in print. I think is was Jack Hise who introduced me to it, after my first encounter with it. That encounter was at least waist deep.

[Ed_D]

Jim,
I can understand and commiserate with you. "Hex mud" is that loose, rich, organic mud in which hex larvae live and thrive.

Ed

[Tig]

We just call it "black muck" and you can literally disappear in it in some places.

[sagefisher]

I ran into some of that stuff on Bean Lake, located just on the eastern side of the Great Divide west of Augusta, MT. Horrible stuff but the Hexes were coming off and what a sight.

Larry ---sagefisher---

[jcampbell]

In his book "Seasons on the AuSable", Rusty Gates refers to the big black holes as "Loon Sh**". Don't know where the term originated, but it seems appropriate.

[Marco]

Speaking of the AuSable. About 500 yards upstream of the McMasters Bridge there is an oxbow bend. A few years ago I stepped into the river at the outer arc of the bend and sank to almost my waist. Hex or otherwise mud, thankfully I was still close enough to shore to grasp onto a deadfall branch to pull myself free. SCARY experience.

Mark