Artistic view of a Male Pteronarcys californica (Pteronarcyidae) (Giant Salmonfly) Stonefly Adult from the Gallatin River in Montana

Salmonflies
Pteronarcys californica

The giant Salmonflies of the Western mountains are legendary for their proclivity to elicit consistent dry-fly action and ferocious strikes.

Stream photos

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Skwala (Large Springfly) Stonefly Nymph Skwala (Large Springfly) Stonefly Nymph

Dorsal view of a Skwala (Perlodidae) (Large Springfly) Stonefly Nymph from the Yakima River in Washington

This Skwala nymph still has a couple months left to go before hatching, but it's still a good representative of its species, which was extremely abundant in my sample for a stonefly of this size. It's obvious why the Yakima is known for its Skwala hatch.

6 Recently Added Photos

27" brown trout, my largest ever. It was the sub-dominant fish in its pool. After this, I hooked the bigger one, but I couldn't land it.

Troutnut is a project started in 2003 by salmonid ecologist Jason "Troutnut" Neuswanger to help anglers and fly tyers unabashedly embrace the entomological side of the sport. Learn more about Troutnut or support the project for an enhanced experience here.

Male Ephemerella excrucians (Pale Morning Dun) Mayfly Dun Pictures

Male Ephemerella excrucians (Ephemerellidae) (Pale Morning Dun) Mayfly Dun from the Henry's Fork of the Snake River in Idaho

Dorsal view of a Male Ephemerella excrucians (Ephemerellidae) (Pale Morning Dun) Mayfly Dun from the Henry's Fork of the Snake River in Idaho

Ventral view of a Male Ephemerella excrucians (Ephemerellidae) (Pale Morning Dun) Mayfly Dun from the Henry's Fork of the Snake River in Idaho

Ruler view of a Male Ephemerella excrucians (Ephemerellidae) (Pale Morning Dun) Mayfly Dun from the Henry's Fork of the Snake River in Idaho The smallest ruler marks are 1 mm.

Lateral view of a Male Ephemerella excrucians (Ephemerellidae) (Pale Morning Dun) Mayfly Dun from the Henry's Fork of the Snake River in Idaho

This mayfly was collected from the Henry's Fork of the Snake River in Idaho on July 31st, 2020 and added to Troutnut.com by Troutnut on August 17th, 2020.

Discussions of this Dun

Ventral view

1 replies

Posted by Martinlf on Sep 5, 2020

Last reply on Sep 6, 2020 by Troutnut

Love the ventral photo. One guide ties duns with green abdomens and a bit of orange in the thorax. I see why now. Super photos.

Public service announcement: PMDs aren't yellow

13 replies

Posted by Troutnut on Aug 17, 2020

Last reply on Aug 28, 2020 by Wiflyfisher

It seems like most of the imitations I see in fly shops for PMDs, and dubbing mixes or other body materials designed to imitate PMDs, are a pale yellow color. I would just like to use this specimen to point out that in many cases (or in all the cases I've seen), most true PMDs (Ephemerella excrucians) are not yellow, but olive (with a bit of a gold tinge). I have some RenÃ© Harrop PMD dubbing with the appropriate olive cast, but other than that I'm just seeing a lot of pale yellow more suited to eastern sulphur mayflies than excrucians.

The label PMD also applies to Ephemerella dorothea infrequens, but it seems they're also green as duns, unless I misidentified that specimen by associating an excrucians dun with nearby dorothea spinners.

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