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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Pycnopsyche guttifera (Great Autumn Brown Sedge) Caddisfly Larva Pycnopsyche guttifera (Great Autumn Brown Sedge) Caddisfly Larva

Dorsal view of a Pycnopsyche guttifera (Limnephilidae) (Great Autumn Brown Sedge) Caddisfly Larva from the Yakima River in Washington

This specimen appears to be of the same species as this one collected in the same spot two months earlier. The identification of both is tentative. This one suffered some physical damage before being photographed, too, so the colors aren't totally natural. I was mostly photographing it to test out some new camera setting idea, which worked really well for a couple of closeups.

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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.

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Mayfly Species Rhithrogena manifesta

Very little has been written about this species and I have found no accounts of fishable hatches.

Where & when

Time of year : June-July

In 5 records from GBIF, adults of this species have been collected during July (80%) and June (20%).

In 2 records from GBIF, this species has been collected at elevations of 23 and 26 ft.

Species Range

source

Map of specific collection sites

Nymph biology

Current speed: Fast

Substrate: Gravel

Physical description

Most physical descriptions on Troutnut are direct or slightly edited quotes from the original scientific sources describing or updating the species, although there may be errors in copying them to this website. Such descriptions aren't always definitive, because species often turn out to be more variable than the original describers observed. In some cases, only a single specimen was described! However, they are useful starting points.

Male Spinner

Described in Needham et al (1935) as Heptagenia manifesta

Body length: 4-7 mm
Wing length: 5-7 mm

Mesonotum piceous; abdominal tergites ferruginous; venation pale hyaline, bases of three main costal veins fuscous at base; type of genitalia uncertain.

Eyes brown above, the lower portion fuscous. Thoracic notum generally piceous. Legs pale greenish; femora with a narrow median band, the knee fuscous; apex of fore tibia, tips of tarsi, and joinings of fore tarsus, fuscous. Wings hyaline; venation pale greenish hyaline, except the basal third of costa, subcosta and radius, and occasionally their tips also, which are fuscous. Abdominal tergites ferruginous, the posterior half or third of each somewhat piceous. Forceps pale; tails uniformly whitish; penes blackish, according to Hagen.

Start a Discussion of Rhithrogena manifesta

References

Caucci, Al and Nastasi, Bob. 2004. Hatches II. The Lyons Press.
Leonard, Justin W. and Fannie A. Leonard. 1962. Mayflies of Michigan Trout Streams. Cranbrook Institute of Science.
Needham, James G., Jay R. Traver, and Yin-Chi Hsu. 1935. The Biology of Mayflies. Comstock Publishing Company, Inc.