Salmonflies
Pteronarcys californica
The giant Salmonflies of the Western mountains are legendary for their proclivity to elicit consistent dry-fly action and ferocious strikes.
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This is an interesting one. Following the keys in Merritt R.W., Cummins, K.W., and Berg, M.B. (2019) and Jacobus et al. (2014), it keys clearly to Ephemerella. Jacobus et al provide a key to species, but some of the characteristics are tricky to interpret without illustrations. If I didn't make any mistakes, this one keys to Ephemerella mucronata, which has not previously been reported any closer to here than Montana and Alberta. The main character seems to fit well: "Abdominal terga with prominent, paired, subparallel, spiculate ridges." Several illustrations or descriptions of this holarctic species from the US and Europe seem to match, including the body length, tarsal claws and denticles, labial palp, and gill shapes. These sources include including Richard Allen's original description of this species in North America under the now-defunct name E. moffatae in Allen RK (1977) and the figures in this description of the species in Italy.
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Fly Fishing and Aquatic Entomology Books
Fly Fishing and Aquatic Entomology Books
I wrote much of this site by combining and reconciling information from different angler-entomology books, professional entomology books, and scientific papers. They're all cited on the pages where their information is used. This page only lists the books.
- Arbona, Fred Jr. 1989. Mayflies, the Angler, and the Trout. Nick Lyons Books.
- Bates, Joseph D. Jr. 1966. Streamer Fly Tying and Fishing . The Stackpole Company.
- Behnke, Robert J. 2002. Trout and Salmon of North America. The Free Press.
- Bergman, Ray. 1976. Trout. The Derrydale Press.
- Borger, Gary A. 1991. Designing Trout Flies. Tomorrow River Press.
- Burks, B.D. 1953. The Mayflies, or Ephemeroptera, of Illinois . Entomological Reprint Specialists.
- Caposella, Jim. 2002. Good Fishing in the Catskills . Backcountry Guides.
- Caucci, Al. 2011. The Mayfly Guide. Scott & Nix, Inc.
- Caucci, Al and Bob Nastasi. 1983. Instant Mayfly Identification Guide. Comparahatch Ltd.
- Caucci, Al and Nastasi, Bob. 2004. Hatches II. The Lyons Press.
- Cutter, Ralph. 2005. Fish Food: A Fly Fisher's Guide to Bugs and bait. Stackpole Books.
- Fauceglia, Ted. 2005. Mayflies . Stackpole Books.
- Filkins, Kenn. 2000. Fly Fishing for Salmon and Steelhead of the Great Lakes. Wilderness Adventure Books.
- Galloup, Kelly. 2001. Cripples & Spinners. Dean Publishing.
- Gierach, John. 1994. Dances with Trout. FIRESIDE.
- Gonzales, Lloyd. 2005. Fly-Fishing Pressured Water. Stackpole Books.
- Hafele, Rick and Hughes, Dave. 1981. The Complete Book of Western Hatches: An Angler's Entomology and Fly Pattern Field Guide. Frank Amato Publications.
- Hafele, Rick and Hughes, Dave. 2004. Western Mayfly Hatches. Frank Amato Publications.
- Hughes, Dave. 1995. Wet Flies. Stackpole Books.
- Hughes, Dave. 2002. Trout from Small Streams . Stackpole Books.
- Hughes, Dave. 1999. Trout Flies. Stackpole Books.
- Hughes, Dave. 2001. Matching Mayflies. Frank Amato Publications.
- Humphreys, Joseph B. 1981. Joe Humphrey's Trout Tactics. Stackpole Books.
- Jorgensen, Poul. 1999. Salmon Flies. Stackpole Books.
- Juracek, John and Mathews, Craig. 1992. Fishing Yellowstone Hatches. Blue Ribbon Flies.
- Kustich, R. and Jerry Kustich. 1999. Fly Fishing for Great Lakes Steelhead - An Advanced Look at an Emerging Fishery (Hardcover) . West River Publishing.
- LaFontaine, Gary. 1990. The Dry Fly: New Angles . The Lyons Press.
- LaFontaine, Gary. 1981. Caddisflies. The Lyons Press.
- Lee, Art. 1998. Tying and Fishing the Riffling Hitch. Human Kinetics Publishers.
- Leeson, Ted and Jim Schollmeyer. 1998. The Fly Tier's Benchside Reference to Techniques and Dressing Styles. Frank Amato Publications Inc.
- Linsenman Bob and Kelly Galloup. 1999. Modern Streamers for Trophy Trout: New Techniques, Tactics, and Patterns (Paperback) . The Countryman Press.
- MacQuarrie, Gordon. 1995. More Stories of the Old Duck Hunters. Willow Creek Press.
- Marinaro, Vincent. 1973. A Modern Dry-Fly Code. Crown Publishers, Inc.
- Marinaro, Vincent C. 1976. The Ring of the Rise. The Lyons Press.
- McCafferty, W.P. 1983. Aquatic Entomology: The Fishermen's Guide and Ecologists' Illustrated Guide to Insects and Their Relatives. Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
- Merritt R.W., Cummins, K.W., and Berg, M.B. 2019. An Introduction to the Aquatic Insects of North America (Fifth Edition). Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.
- Needham, James G., Jay R. Traver, and Yin-Chi Hsu. 1935. The Biology of Mayflies. Comstock Publishing Company, Inc.
- Newman, Eric. 2002. Flyfisher's Guide to New York. Wilderness Adventures Press, Inc.
- Osthoff, Rich. 2001. No Hatch to Match. Stackpole Books.
- Peper, Eric and Gary LaFontaine. 2003. Fly Fishing the Beaverkill . The Lyons Press.
- Pobst, Dick. 1990. Trout Stream Insects: An Orvis Streamside Guide. The Lyons Press.
- Quinn, Thomas P. 2005. The Behavior and Ecology of Pacific Salmon and Trout. University of Washigton Press.
- Rosenbauer, Tom. 1998. The Orvis Guide to Reading Trout Streams. The Lyons Press.
- Rosenbauer, Tom. 2000. The Orvis Guide to Prospecting for Trout . The Lyons Press.
- Rosenbauer, Tom. 2000. The Orvis Streamside Guide To Leaders, Knots, and Tippets. The Lyons Press.
- Schollmeyer, Jim. 2001. Nymph Fly-Tying Techniques . Frank Amato Publications.
- Schwiebert, Ernest. 1984. Death of a Riverkeeper . Creative Arts Book Company.
- Schwiebert, Ernest. 1973. Nymphs. Wichester Press.
- Schwiebert, Ernest. 1990. The Compleat Schwiebert . Dutton Adult.
- Schwiebert, Ernest G. 2007. Nymphs Volume I: The Mayflies: The Major Species. The Lyons Press.
- Schwiebert, Ernest G. 2007. Nymphs Volume II: Stoneflies, Caddisflies, and Other Important Insects: Including the Lesser Mayflies. The Lyons Press.
- Schwiebert, Ernest G. 1955. Matching the Hatch. MacMillan Publishing Company.
- Schwiebert, Ernest G. 1984. Remembrances of Rivers Past. Donald S. Ellis.
- Schwiebert, Ernest G. 1978. Trout. E.P. Dutton.
- Scott, Jack. 1982. Greased Line Fishing for Salmon [and Steelhead]. Frank Amato Publications.
- Stalcup, Shane. 2002. Mayflies "Top to Bottom" . Frank Amato Publications.
- Streeter, Robert W. 2000. New York Fly-Fishing Guide. Frank Amato Publishers.
- Supinski, Matt. 2001. Steelhead Dreams: The Theory, Method, Science and Madness of Great Lakes Steelhead Fly Fishing (Paperback) . Frank Amato Publications.
- Swisher, Doug and Carl Richards. 2000. Selective Trout. The Lyons Press.
- Swisher, Doug and Carl Richards. 1991. Emergers . The Lyons Press.
- Thomas C. Grubb Jr. 2003. The Mind of the Trout. University of Wisconsin Press.
- Usinger, Robert L. 1956. Aquatic Insects of California, with Keys to North American Genera and California Species. University of California Press.
- Wright, Leonard M. Jr. 1972. Fishing the Dry Fly as a Living Insect . E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc.