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.

A trackless paradise two days deep in the Yellowstone backcountry

From Mystery Creek # 218 in Wyoming

Stream photos

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Ephemerella mucronata Mayfly Nymph Ephemerella mucronata Mayfly Nymph

Dorsal view of a Ephemerella mucronata (Ephemerellidae) Mayfly Nymph from the Yakima River in Washington

This is an interesting one. Following the keys in Merritt R.W., Cummins, K.W., and Berg, M.B. (2019) and Jacobus et al. (2014), it keys clearly to Ephemerella. Jacobus et al provide a key to species, but some of the characteristics are tricky to interpret without illustrations. If I didn't make any mistakes, this one keys to Ephemerella mucronata, which has not previously been reported any closer to here than Montana and Alberta. The main character seems to fit well: "Abdominal terga with prominent, paired, subparallel, spiculate ridges." Several illustrations or descriptions of this holarctic species from the US and Europe seem to match, including the body length, tarsal claws and denticles, labial palp, and gill shapes. These sources include including Richard Allen's original description of this species in North America under the now-defunct name E. moffatae in Allen RK (1977) and the figures in this description of the species in Italy.

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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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Green Trout

FisherOfMen

NY

Posts: 115

FisherOfMen on May 15, 2012May 15th, 2012, 7:58 am EDT

I was fishing from my dock the other day to a school of stocked rainbows (I think) and I finally managed to get one of the buggers. For stocked fish, they're being awful difficult to catch this year. Last year I'd get plenty with a Panther Martin, but they won't even go for that this year!

Anyway so I got the trout in, and I couldn't figure out what exactly it was. The markings were more like that of a brown, but along the top of the fish and a little on the bottom it was emerald green. Also in the middle where the pink stripe usually is on rainbows it was a sort of pale gray-ish.

There's Atlantic Salmon in the lake as well, could it have been one of those buggers? I'm totally lost.

...maybe it was just a little seasick!

"Nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught." -Author Unknown

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -Edmund Burke