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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.

Case view of a Pycnopsyche guttifera (Limnephilidae) (Great Autumn Brown Sedge) Caddisfly Larva from the Yakima River in Washington
It's only barely visible in one of my pictures, but I confirmed under the microscope that this one has a prosternal horn and the antennae are mid-way between the eyes and front of the head capsule.

I'm calling this one Pycnopsyche, but it's a bit perplexing. It seems to key definitively to at least Couplet 8 of the Key to Genera of Limnephilidae Larvae. That narrows it down to three genera, and the case seems wrong for the other two. The case looks right for Pycnopsyche, and it fits one of the key characteristics: "Abdominal sternum II without chloride epithelium and abdominal segment IX with only single seta on each side of dorsal sclerite." However, the characteristic "metanotal sa1 sclerites not fused, although often contiguous" does not seem to fit well. Those sclerites sure look fused to me, although I can make out a thin groove in the touching halves in the anterior half under the microscope. Perhaps this is a regional variation.

The only species of Pycnopsyche documented in Washington state is Pycnopsyche guttifera, and the colors and markings around the head of this specimen seem to match very well a specimen of that species from Massachusetts on Bugguide. So I am placing it in that species for now.

Whatever species this is, I photographed another specimen of seemingly the same species from the same spot a couple months later.
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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Wiflyfisher
Wiflyfisher's profile picture
Wisconsin

Posts: 622
Wiflyfisher on Jun 1, 2008June 1st, 2008, 12:22 am EDT
It is about that time to start getting ready for the brown drake hatch. Wondering what others find as the most effective brown drake emerger pattern? I use a wiggle nymph at times, but is time-consuming and tedious tying wiggle nymphs. Suggestions?
Martinlf
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Moderator
Palmyra PA

Posts: 3047
Martinlf on Jun 2, 2008June 2nd, 2008, 12:23 pm EDT
I had good luck with a big Quigley style emerger with Green Drakes on the Delaware one year. I used an olive marabou feather for the abdomen, dubbing for the thorax, and a big forward angled deerhair wing with a prominent stubb of the deer hair butts behind. Twitching it in the film produced action.
"He spread them a yard and a half. 'And every one that got away is this big.'"

--Fred Chappell
Wiflyfisher
Wiflyfisher's profile picture
Wisconsin

Posts: 622
Wiflyfisher on Jun 3, 2008June 3rd, 2008, 11:56 am EDT
Louis, what is a "Quigley"? So you just use some strands of marabou for a long tail?

I thought you guys had Ephemera simulans out East? (Maybe I was remembering reading about the Green Drakes on the Delaware.)
Martinlf
Martinlf's profile picture
Moderator
Palmyra PA

Posts: 3047
Martinlf on Jun 4, 2008June 4th, 2008, 9:37 am EDT

John, a couple of pictures will be worth a couple of thousand words, I'd hope:

http://www.southeastflyfishingforum.com/flypatterns/displayimage-topn--2-26.html

http://www.uky.edu/~agrdanny/flyfish/ljdecuir/quigley.htm

Instead of peacock for the thorax I used a light greenish dubbing (Caucci's spectrumized for Eastern Green Drake)for the Green Drake emerger.

We have both Emphmera similans and Ephemera gutulatta here in the East.
"He spread them a yard and a half. 'And every one that got away is this big.'"

--Fred Chappell
Wiflyfisher
Wiflyfisher's profile picture
Wisconsin

Posts: 622
Wiflyfisher on Jun 4, 2008June 4th, 2008, 10:36 am EDT
Louis, thanks!

BTW, the other day I found 6 plastic containers each containing dyed rabbit fur (red, white, blue, yellow, & black) that Natasi gave me years ago. Their original dyed furs that you then mixed to make their spectrumized fur blends. It has to be around 25 years old. :)
Wbranch
Wbranch's profile picture
York & Starlight PA

Posts: 2635
Wbranch on Jun 4, 2008June 4th, 2008, 5:01 pm EDT
Here is a piggie I caught last Friday night on a #10 Brown Drake Comapra-dun on the middle main stem Delaware. The main stem and the East Branch have huge emergences of simulans. Often the spinner is far more important than the duns that often hatch sporadically all day long.

Catskill fly fisher for fifty-five years.
Wiflyfisher
Wiflyfisher's profile picture
Wisconsin

Posts: 622
Wiflyfisher on Jun 5, 2008June 5th, 2008, 1:15 am EDT
Nice fish!!

The Brown Drake Compara-dun is my favorite pattern during the hatch, but I also find an emerger triggers some better action at times.

The "main stem" of the Delaware... Is that below the Junction Pool?
Martinlf
Martinlf's profile picture
Moderator
Palmyra PA

Posts: 3047
Martinlf on Jun 5, 2008June 5th, 2008, 1:17 am EDT
Nice fish, Matt.

John, that is neat about the fur. Jeff of the DRC tells me they blend up the colors when they need them, weighing the fur to get the right amounts. I don't think they use black anymore. The formulae are printed on the dubbing packs.

--Louis
"He spread them a yard and a half. 'And every one that got away is this big.'"

--Fred Chappell
Wiflyfisher
Wiflyfisher's profile picture
Wisconsin

Posts: 622
Wiflyfisher on Jun 5, 2008June 5th, 2008, 4:58 am EDT
I probably have a lifetime supply of their Spectrum pre-blended dubbing packs too. I use them all the time. I blend my own as well, but not too often. A lesson I learned from Natasi was check the blends wet before using. Fur blends tend to darken when wet, which is pretty obvious, but I often forget about it while tying.

I was looking at the 2008 photo gallery for the DRC, there are a lot of nice trout pics. The DR is still one of my favorite rivers. I imagine it gets a lot more pressure than it did back in the early 80's.

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