The famous nocturnal Hex hatch of the Midwest (and a few other lucky locations) stirs to the surface mythically large brown trout that only touch streamers for the rest of the year.
This one pretty clearly keys to Kogotus, but it also looks fairly different from specimens I caught in the same creek about a month later in the year. With only one species of the genus known in Washington, I'm not sure about the answer to this ID.
Taxon on Aug 31, 2012August 31st, 2012, 12:51 am EDT
Hi Showsquatch-
Sure, it's called a crane fly, probably of True Fly family Tipulidae. Some are aquatic, but the majority are terrestrial. It may well have come from the soil beneath your lawn, where they live as larvae feeding on grass roots, turning your grass brown in spots before pupating, and then emerging in as adults in their winged form.
Sayfu on Aug 31, 2012August 31st, 2012, 6:10 am EDT
And aquatic, or terrestrial I do believe all crawl out and pupate in the soil. Never have I caught a fish on a crane fly adult imitation...unless maybe my inability to size my hackle properly was taken for an adult, and my drag free drift skittered a bit. :)
GONZO on Aug 31, 2012August 31st, 2012, 7:23 am EDT
Snowsquatch, your crane fly appears to be Pedicia albivitta, also known as the Giant Eastern Crane Fly. As far as I know, the larvae of this species are aquatic (photos of larva identified as this species here: http://www.troutnut.com/specimen/442), and it usually has two adult flight periods, one in the spring and another in the late summer/fall.
"It's not that I find fishing so important, it's just that I find all other endeavors of Man equally unimportant... And not nearly as much fun!" Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman