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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.

Case view of a Pycnopsyche guttifera (Limnephilidae) (Great Autumn Brown Sedge) Caddisfly Larva from the Yakima River in Washington
It's only barely visible in one of my pictures, but I confirmed under the microscope that this one has a prosternal horn and the antennae are mid-way between the eyes and front of the head capsule.

I'm calling this one Pycnopsyche, but it's a bit perplexing. It seems to key definitively to at least Couplet 8 of the Key to Genera of Limnephilidae Larvae. That narrows it down to three genera, and the case seems wrong for the other two. The case looks right for Pycnopsyche, and it fits one of the key characteristics: "Abdominal sternum II without chloride epithelium and abdominal segment IX with only single seta on each side of dorsal sclerite." However, the characteristic "metanotal sa1 sclerites not fused, although often contiguous" does not seem to fit well. Those sclerites sure look fused to me, although I can make out a thin groove in the touching halves in the anterior half under the microscope. Perhaps this is a regional variation.

The only species of Pycnopsyche documented in Washington state is Pycnopsyche guttifera, and the colors and markings around the head of this specimen seem to match very well a specimen of that species from Massachusetts on Bugguide. So I am placing it in that species for now.

Whatever species this is, I photographed another specimen of seemingly the same species from the same spot a couple months later.
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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This discussion is about Toughannock Creek.

My then-girlfriend, now-wife took this picture with my camera.

From Toughannock Creek in New York
I believe this is the highest free-falling waterfall in the East.  The pool below it is off-limits to fishing but probably isn't that great, anyway -- by all accounts the stream's trout population is mediocre at best.

From Toughannock Creek in New York
Toughannock Creek in New York
Toughannock Creek in New York
KIngoThings
Posts: 3
KIngoThings on Apr 1, 2017April 1st, 2017, 4:16 am EDT
Hi! I've tried to find that bridge in the top photo but can't :(
Where is it please?
Thank you. :)
Oldredbarn
Oldredbarn's profile picture
Novi, MI

Posts: 2600
Oldredbarn on Apr 1, 2017April 1st, 2017, 8:30 am EDT
Tap the photo and when it comes up the info is in the lower left hand corner...New York state...

Spence
"Even when my best efforts fail it's a satisfying challenge, and that, after all, is the essence of fly fishing." -Chauncy Lively

"Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood
PaulRoberts
PaulRoberts's profile picture
Colorado

Posts: 1776
PaulRoberts on Apr 1, 2017April 1st, 2017, 9:06 am EDT
Oh... And all this time I thought it was on the path to Mordor.
Oldredbarn
Oldredbarn's profile picture
Novi, MI

Posts: 2600
Oldredbarn on Apr 3, 2017April 3rd, 2017, 4:53 am EDT
Oh... And all this time I thought it was on the path to Mordor.


Paul...posts from you Colorado Boys are getting a tad suspect. ;) You haven't been hitting the medicinal down in Denver have you?

Ha!

Spence
"Even when my best efforts fail it's a satisfying challenge, and that, after all, is the essence of fly fishing." -Chauncy Lively

"Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood
Jmd123
Jmd123's profile picture
Oscoda, MI

Posts: 2474
Jmd123 on Apr 3, 2017April 3rd, 2017, 8:14 am EDT
Medicinal? Spence, it's full-on legal and taxable in CO! You no longer need a prescription to be happy!

And that does look like some scenes from LOTR, the ones they shot in the New Zealand forest areas. Plenty of scenery like that in Oregon, though, and even in some parts of the U.P....and Chile...trout country too! Spectacular fall colors for a backdrop there!

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

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