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.

View from atop the permafrost slump

From the Selawik River in Alaska

Stream photos

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Glossosoma (Little Brown Short-horned Sedge) Caddisfly Larva Glossosoma (Little Brown Short-horned Sedge) Caddisfly Larva

Dorsal view of a Glossosoma (Glossosomatidae) (Little Brown Short-horned Sedge) Caddisfly Larva from the Yakima River in Washington

I caught this tiny larva without a case, but it seems to key pretty clearly to to Glossosomatidae. From there, the lack of sclerites on the mesonotum points to either Glossosoma or Anagapetus. Although it's difficult to see in a 2D image from the microscope, it's pretty clear in the live 3D view that the pronotum is only excised about 1/3 of its length to accommodate the forecoxa, not 2/3, which points to Glossosoma at Couplet 5 of the Key to Genera of Glossosomatidae Larvae.

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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.

First time in a packraft in the lower Chatanika, trying for sheefish

By Troutnut on September 27th, 2013

Yesterday afternoon a friend and I floated ten miles of the Chatanika River near Fairbanks, from a spot near the Steese Highway to the Elliott Highway bridge.

Our mutual goal was to try to catch a sheefish. Sheefish are very large piscivorous whitefish, present in very low numbers along the Alaska road system in the Yukon drainage. Most people who really want to catch sheefish have to expensively fly out to the wilderness of northwest Alaska, but the Chatanika River river near Fairbanks is well-known to have a very small spawning run (about 100 fish) during which one has a better-than-usual chance (but still a very long shot) of hooking up with a sheefish. We both thought it would be fun to catch (or even see) the elusive "tarpon of the north," but we had no luck. Didn't even see one.

Another goal for me on this trip was to try packrafting for the first time in some easy Class I water. Packrafts are tiny, tough, ultra-light (often less than 5 pounds) boats used for backpacking into remote locations and floating out on a river (or paddling around a lake). I've been thinking about getting one for remote backcountry fishing and hunting, so I was happy to try it out with a borrowed raft. This wasn't "real" packrafting because we didn't have to pack the boats more than a hundred yards on this road-to-road float, but I got a good feel for the boat and was impressed with its handling and portability.

Have any of you used packrafts for fly fishing (or hunting)? What did you think?