i know some about stoneflies and there being the salmonfly,goldenstone,yellowstone,lime and yellow sally, skwala, little black and little brown stone. but every once and a while on a river i have fished every summer of my life. theres this bug that hatches. its a stonefly forsure. but its 3 inches long ATLEAST. it makes the salmonflies look like midgets… i can only imitate it by using a size 2 streamer hook and tying a stonefly patter on it.so i was just wondering if this is just another subspecies of the salmonfly. they look pretty much the same. dark brown with some orange/pinky color on there belly but these things are HUGE. i just got thinking about it after all this talk about sedges and caddis only hatching ever few years type life cycle. and if theres some humungoid stone that does the same. or am i just nuts???
could it be a hellgramite , Where are you located?
Yes, Dobson Fly.
Did a search…very short…but the Dobson Fly wasn’t said to have some orange…maybe you aren’t used to the …
Pteronarcys californica)
it has been called the “giant stonefly”
your location would help…
[This message has been edited by ducksterman (edited 17 December 2005).]
His profile says Calgery…I’m assuming hes in Canada…
Sorry, was in a hurry and missed it…still wonder if he didn’t see what I said.
yes im in canada. it may have bin the dobson. i have only seen this hatch in one place in central britishcolumbia. the river is high gradient freestone stream. i thought the hellgramite was a insect found more out east. also i thought they likes low too meduim gradient type water. this river is as cold and clean as she gets. water is drinkable right out of the river and u still get cold wearing waders in the heat of summer.
Dear sunsky,
Did you catch any of these insects or just observe them in flight?
If you caught one and it didn’t have pincers up front it wasn’t a hellgrammite, or dobson fly. You cannot mistake an adult once you see one. You definitely would not forget one after it has bitten you.
I’ve tried googling and I can’t find any record of hellgrammites in Western Canada but I didn’t run an exhaustive search. I’m guessing you saw an stonefly of some type.
Regards,
Tim Murphy
yes i caught a few. they use too crawl all over me. scare the hell outta ya when u pull a monster bug out form somewere. they were forsure a stonefly. i googled some pcis and stone and i think it was a monster stone of some sort…
Dear sunsky,
You weren’t downwind from a nuclear power plant were you?
Regards,
Tim Murphy
i just got thinking about it after all this talk about sedges and caddis only hatching ever few years type life cycle. and if theres some humungoid stone that does the same. or am i just nuts???
sunskyhooksnwater-
First off, you are not nuts. After all, you?re interested in aquatic insects, so how could you be? However, my fear is, something I inadequately stated in another thread might have led you a faulty assumption.
Although large stoneflies, large caddisflies, and (even some) large mayflies may have only one generation each two, three, or even four years, I didn?t intend to imply that it is customary for there to be off year(s) when none of a particular species hatch. Of course, this could happen in some isolated case, particularly on a local basis resulting from a cataclysmic event, but it wouldn?t be the normal occurrence. Rather, the normal occurrence would be for some percentage of each species to hatch each year, independent of how long it takes that particular species to reach maturity in a given climate. Hopefully, I haven?t dug myself a deeper hole here. Ah well.
? every once and a while on a river i have fished every summer of my life. theres this bug that hatches. its a stonefly forsure. but its 3 inches long ATLEAST. it makes the salmonflies look like midgets… i can only imitate it by using a size 2 streamer hook and tying a stonefly patter on it.so i was just wondering if this is just another subspecies of the salmonfly. they look pretty much the same. dark brown with some orange/pinky color on there belly but these things are HUGE.
There are several genera and three or four species of Salmonfly resident in Alberta. Depending on species, they can range from an adult length of 1.5? - 3?. This likely accounts for your occasionally seeing a Salmonfly which is twice as long as the ones you are more accustomed to seeing.
Hope this helps.
Taxon
[url=http://FlyfishingEntomology.com:8f6a5]FlyfishingEntomology.com[/url:8f6a5]
Definitly Dobson Fly
It is what got me started fly fishing! My first one i saw was under a bridge embankment on the Greenbrier River WV. This one was about 5 inches long with large pincheer(mandible).
This was the best pic I could find of the big Stoneflies.
Was this the critter you saw?
[url=http://www.flyfisherman.com/rmwest/gtsalmonflies/index.html:a326d]http://www.flyfisherman.com/rmwest/gtsalmonflies/index.html[/url:a326d]
3 plus inches seems quite large even for the giant stone fly Sometimes the female of various species will have a somewhat swolen body that ranges in color from yellow to orange. I have seen this even with other insects such as the praying mantis.
You could contact Bob Boyle one of the formost experts on stone flies for his opinion. KatyaBelousBoyle@aol.com I am sure he could help if you can give him an accurate description. Dopson flies are like little airplanes!! But the orange/pink body??? But if over 3 inches???maybe?//
[This message has been edited by mantis (edited 18 December 2005).]
thanks too all. i did some googling of pictures and stuff and found many photos of stoneflies in different sizes. it was definetly a stonefly. i just wasnt sure if there was more than one subspecies of salmonfly or not. because i only see the general 7 or 8 species and was not sure if there was another that i am not aware of or what. next year if i find one ill snap some pics along a tape measure or something. im almost pisitive it wasnt a dobson fly. but only time will tell forsure if i can capture one of these bugs…