The giant Salmonflies of the Western mountains are legendary for their proclivity to elicit consistent dry-fly action and ferocious strikes.
This seems to be a mottled sculpin, Cottus bairdi. Normally this species is more mottled.
This fish was collected from Mongaup Creek in New York on May 6th, 2007 and added to Troutnut.com by Troutnut on May 18th, 2007.