The giant Salmonflies of the Western mountains are legendary for their proclivity to elicit consistent dry-fly action and ferocious strikes.
I was surprised by the olive cast on the body of this female Rhithrogena dun, which led me to mistake it for a western green drake (Drunella) in the field. I was pleasantly surprised to get a closer look and find something I hadn't collected yet. Its species ID is based on proximity to male spinner collected on the same trip, as well as physical similarity (size, tergite coloration, dark streaks on the femora) to that specimen.
This mayfly was collected from Mystery Creek #249 in Washington on July 4th, 2020 and added to Troutnut.com by Troutnut on July 12th, 2020.