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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.
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.

Slocum
Slocum's profile picture
France

Posts: 9
Slocum on Sep 7, 2017September 7th, 2017, 6:26 am EDT
Hi everybody !

Despite the fact I'm French I've read and almost grew up with John Gierach books. And in his books there are obviously some mentions of his fishing partner and long time pal AK Best. In order to learn more about fly tying I've bought some of his books and recently I've seen "Tying dry flies" VHS/DVD. Actually I've never been so happy to speak English !!!

But let's be realistic, DVD about fly tying is not that common, and the AK Best VHS/DVD are not available anymore on the market. Add to that I'm living in Europe and I won't be able to read his DVD due to a dvd zone problem.

I know it's not respectful towrd him but, is there anybody here who have some of his documentary to download or something similar ? I know he did some video about nymph, streamer and so on, and I'd like to watch it because, you know, knowledge is nothing if it's not shared !

Let me know if you have any tips concerning his videos ;)

Thanks in advance !
Troutnut
Troutnut's profile picture
Administrator
Bellevue, WA

Posts: 2758
Troutnut on Sep 7, 2017September 7th, 2017, 9:46 am EDT
I'm not comfortable publicly allowing a request for a pirated copy of a video (even if it's off the market), but I would welcome anyone to answer the question with publicly available media of AK Best's tying.
Jason Neuswanger, Ph.D.
Troutnut and salmonid ecologist
Slocum
Slocum's profile picture
France

Posts: 9
Slocum on Sep 7, 2017September 7th, 2017, 6:20 pm EDT
Yes, I wasn't comfortable asking that too to be honest. But such knowledge should not be forgotten. The better of course would be something publicly available as you've just said.

Maybe a good solution would be to contact him or one of his pal from Colorado (Mike Clark or Ed Engle) and tell him there are a bunch of youngsters who want to see those videos !

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