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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.

Dorsal view of a Setvena wahkeena (Perlodidae) (Wahkeena Springfly) Stonefly Nymph from Mystery Creek #199 in Washington
As far as I can tell, this species has only previously been reported from one site in Oregon along the Columbia gorge. However, the key characteristics are fairly unmistakable in all except for one minor detail:
— 4 small yellow spots on frons visible in photos
— Narrow occipital spinule row curves forward (but doesn’t quite meet on stem of ecdysial suture, as it's supposed to in this species)
— Short spinules on anterior margin of front legs
— Short rposterior row of blunt spinules on abdominal tergae, rather than elongated spinules dorsally
I caught several of these mature nymphs in the fishless, tiny headwaters of a creek high in the Wenatchee Mountains.
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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Mcflyangler
Mcflyangler's profile picture
New Mexico, United States

Posts: 35
Mcflyangler on Jan 21, 2017January 21st, 2017, 9:48 am EST
I hooked 3 good sized trout on this trip, and brought in 2 of them. The 3rd one I lost never got on camera due to my batteries dying. This trip was a tough trip though even though I landed a few fish because I was struggling to get bites. I only had 3 hit all day, and I was lucky enough to bring in 2. Finally the hunt for the San Juan River trout is over, and I can move onto another river in my next series of fishing rivers.

Some would consider the San Juan to be more of a creek as its not very wide, but there are spots that are very wide and those places are slow and shallow, but there are big trout all throughout this river. I landed 2 fish, and hooked a 3rd on this trip. That third fish was just too big, and too strong to bring in. I lost him about 2 feet from landing him in the net. All around a great day fishing.

The first time I fished the San Juan must have been a once in a blue moon trip because I landed 20+ trout in about one hour. This river is considered one of the best in the United States, however its not quite like some of these rivers you see in New Zealand. There are lots of people, and its not so remote and secluded feeling. However its a great river still none the less.

The rod I was using is a TFO Lefty Kreh Professional Series II which is a bit more moderate action then the rod I was using in the first video of this series..

The reel I was using is a Sage 2250, and the line was Rio Mainstream WF5F, a simple $40 fly line. You don't need much more then the mainstream line on this river due to not having to cast very far to often.

https://youtu.be/-2OBM_-UngU
Mc Fly Angler
http://www.mcflyangler.com
https://www.youtube.com/c/mcflylures

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