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 small, old rock wing dam has created an excellent riffle and pool in this classic trout stream.

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.

17 Recently Added Photos

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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They're STILL eating my hoppers! Plus, a very large minnow...

Jmd123 has attached these 6 pictures. The message is below.

Didn't know a hopper would work this late in the year!

Fall colors are late this year, but better late than never (i.e., brown)

Muskie bait?? Biggest freakin' golden shiner I've ever seen in my life, bent the rod too!

A beautiful fishing spot only adds to the sweetness of success

Last and best of the trip, just an inch shy of the frying pan - hit the fly while I was reeling in

Jmd123

Oscoda, MI

Posts: 2474

Jmd123 on Oct 23, 2016October 23rd, 2016, 5:18 pm EDT

Unlike most fall days, our winds died down today to practically nothing. And with temps in the mid- to upper-50s F, today seemed like a perfect day to take the kayak out while it's still not too cold to do so. Plus, our fall colors are just about at peak right now, so I wanted to get out for a good look. Where to go? Why Reid Lake, of course, surrounded by maples and oaks and full of perch and rainbows! So off I went, kayak on the roof, up F-41 and US 72 for a very nice color display, really bright right now. And the shores of the lake weren't too bad either, as you can see...Having caught soooo many nice perch (and a few rainbows including a 16-incher) on streamers last fall, that's what I went with first. Well, same as last time, next to nothing hit my streamer. But then I saw a fish rise near shore, and he moved enough water to probably not just be a minnow...on went a #10 hopper, and after a few tentative nips a 10" rainbow grabbed it good and bent the rod over! Dry fly trout with only 8 days to go until November! With the lake like glass, I continued throwing said hopper around until I left, and ended up catching a total of 8 rainbows, the biggest being 11" and therefore all went back in (I do keep them here because it's stocked with 1300-1500 rainbows every spring). This is the first time EVER I have caught trout consistently on this lake, in the past they've been random scattered amongst a lot of perch, but today I had them figured out good. Not only that, but I do believe I just caught my own personal best golden shiner ever, at least this is about the biggest one I have ever seen! He liked the hopper too...

DANG I hope we get a few more decent days!!! Sometimes fall fishing is the best.

Jonathon

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