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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Onocosmoecus (Great Late-Summer Sedge) Caddisfly Larva Onocosmoecus (Great Late-Summer Sedge) Caddisfly Larva

Lateral view of a Onocosmoecus (Limnephilidae) (Great Late-Summer Sedge) Caddisfly Larva from the Yakima River in Washington

This specimen keys pretty easily to Onocosmoecus, and it closely resembles a specimen from Alaska which caddis expert Dave Ruiter recognized as this genus. As with that specimen, the only species in the genus documented in this area is Onocosmoecus unicolor, but Dave suggested for that specimen that there might be multiple not-yet-distinguished species under the unicolor umbrella and it would be best to stick with the genus-level ID. I'm doing the same for this one.

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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.

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.

My latest work project: fish & bugs

Jmd123 has attached these 20 pictures. The message is below.

Creek chub, lots of these (Semotilus atromaculatus)

Beautiful longear sunfish (Lepomis megalotis)!

Bluntnose minnow (Pimephales notatus), most common fish in our samples

Juvenile hog sucker (Hypantelium nigricans), only got one but I'm sure there's more

We caught 4 species of darters, this is probably an orangethroat darter, Etheostoma spectabile (the others were Johnny, fantail, and rainbow darters)

Weeeee little catfish! Yellow bullhead (Ameiurus natalis)

And now for some bugs! A raw, unsorted sample, separated from the debris

Paraleptophlebia was the second most common taxon after Chironomidae (which I may yet take down to genus!) Collected over 1100 of these total!

Ephemera was the largest mayfly we found

Chimarra was easy to spot because of their big heads!

Hydropsyche larva - Cheumatopsyche was much more common

Goniobasis snails were extremely common in some samples (one had 376!)

Not a mollusk nor a turtle! Water penny beetle larvae, Psephenus sp.

Jmd123

Oscoda, MI

Posts: 2474

Jmd123 on Mar 2, 2021March 2nd, 2021, 4:51 am EST

Here's (some of) what we collected! Remember, this is NOT a big stream, which made the diversity all the more surprising. Enjoy!

Jonathon

Note: all fish were identified, measured, weighed, and checked for health conditions such as parasites, lesions, sores, etc.

No matter how big the one you just caught is, there's always a bigger one out there somewhere...

Red_green_h

New Mexico

Posts: 64

Red_green_h on Mar 2, 2021March 2nd, 2021, 2:59 pm EST

That is so cool. This is your job?!? Man, talk about doing what you love. This is what I'm constantly telling my kids. Find something you love and are passionate about and do it.