Giant Stoneflies?

[SonofZ3]

We get a pretty decent hatch of LARGE stoneflies out of the warmwater creek that runs 300 feet from my house (theres a pic of one below). I like to tie woven bodied stonefly nymphs on a size 6 bent shank hook to match the nymphs. They work well for me.

 

[YoughRiverGuide]

We have them (very few) on the yough. I've seen giant stones on various streams around PA. A few that come to mind are Wills Creek, First Fork, and Penns. IF you ever go into to The Feathered Hook, ask Jonah to show you his collection of Penns Creek bugs. He has some giant stones in a jar from Penns.

 

[osprey]

I've seen the big golden ones here and there in Pa but not the Black ones , Is it the black ones or the golden ones they refer to out west as the Salmon fly? Most stoneflies do crawl out to hatch from what i've seen but i read some interesting stuff about subsurface drifting , where the nymphs actually drift quite long distances in a sort of migration (Gary LaFontaine) , they apparently pick up and move en masse and then settle somewhere else , this is activity that we would never see unless we were really paying attention.

 

[flybop]

DGC, that sure looks like a salmon fly. I have seen them in very low numbers on Penns, Slate Run and a few other P a. streams. Basically the salmon flies are a size or two larger than the goldens. OUt west the salmon fly nymphs and adults are ties on size 2 and 4's.

Penns is alive with goldens, I do not know what their latin name is. I have seen them in huge numbers on early summer nights there, but very few adults during the day. One great thing about the golden stones is that the nymph is on a two year life cycle. That means that there are always plenty on big, juicy golden nymphs for the trout to eat.

Some entomolgists believe that the nocturnal drift is in part do to the night time feeding of large stone fly nymphs. Most salmon fly and goldens tend to migrate to sue and emerge at night. There is a secondary golden hatch on the lower Yellowstone that is not well known that can really have big fish looking up at day break, long before most would think to fish a golden dry or hopper.

Weather or not, I am still heading to Penns on Saturday. Hopefully the flow will keep dropping down closer to 400.

 

[Fishidiot]

Flybop,
Good luck fishing today! I'd imagine Penns is gonna be tough - lotsa rain and snowmelt down here in SC PA.

 

[albatross]

I've seen shucks left on rocks from these flies at the Yough. Hooked and lost a nice trout that same day fishing a #6 conehead stonefly nymph.

 

[YoughRiverGuide]

FlyBop,

On that trip to the stone a few years ago, while fishing with that guide I mentioned that talked me into trying loop knots, we were targeting those early morning fish that were still tight to the bank hunting those nocturnal stones. We had some really large fish eat those big dries. The experience was a great one. I think that the stone, especially further down river, is my favorite western river.

 

[pete41]

Mission Ranch area gets my vote as best part of the Yellowstone.

 

[Acristickid]

pete- for stoneflies? or just in general?

Also- that Mission Creek- is that private property? Dont think that creek surfaced on my hit list out there.

 

[pete41]

The only salmon flies I ever fished on the Yellowstone were in the park-usually too high and off colored to be fun wading down below-
Mission ranch is north of Livingston-past the road heading to Clyde park-[rt 89].
There are accesses on both sides off the river in the area,plus a railroad track on south side of river.
This is the best big fish area I found on the yellowstone-caught many 4 pound plus fish in that stretch.
Best winter fishing I ever found -one place with a spring hole good for 25 to 40 or so fish in a 100 yd stretch-usually 2 pders or better.
The fish are bigger on the missouri but I never found more concentrated anywhere.
Should note stonefly nymphs good down there but I usually went with streamers.

 

[Chaz]

I've found large stone fly nymphs in PA. The Delaware has them, so does Pine, but they aren't as common as on the Big D. I've found them in creeks as small as twenty feet wide though so they aren't uncommon.
I've seen millions of goldens on Pine Creek they are about 1 1/2 inches long.
Then there are the Dobson Flies, which are the ones most closely resembleing the western giant stones and salmon flies.

 

[afishinado]

You can never go wrong with fishing a large black stonefly on the D (with squiggly rubber legs). Great anchor fly for deep nymphing in the fast water. Many times my biggest fish of the day will come on this fly. The fly in dark brown or black that Flybop posted in another thread is a simple pattern that works well on the D. No need for any super-realistic flies that take an hour to tie. Use lots of lead to weigh it down. Here it is:

 

[pete41]

Agree 100% with Afish-

 

[osprey]

pete......when you jiggle that rod to get the bird off it be carefull , that's probably when you'll get a strike , 'aint it always like that?

 

[Chaz]

That's not a stone fly afish, it's a woolly worm with ruber legs. For those that don't know a salmon fly is larger than the black stone flies, we're talking about. The closest thing we have to salmon flies in PA is the Dobson Fly. Salmon Flies have orange or red on them.

 

[Fishidiot]

Chaz,
Actually, the fly posted by Afishinado would make a fine salmon fly imitation, rubber legs or not.

I would respecfully challenge your claim that the closest thing in PA to a salmonfly is a dobson fly. Dobsen flies, which are the adult version of a helgrammite, have nothing in common with salmon flies except their size. Salmon flies are a species of stonefly. While the term "salmon fly" isn't generally used here in PA, we do have a version of this insect Pteronarcys dorsata, which is a very close species to the actual western "salmon fly" - P. califonica. The generic term I used in the thread "giant stoneflies" is widely regarded as covering these several species of stoneflies.

 

[afishinado]

Chaz wrote:
That's not a stone fly afish, it's a woolly worm with ruber legs. For those that don't know a salmon fly is larger than the black stone flies, we're talking about. The closest thing we have to salmon flies in PA is the Dobson Fly. Salmon Flies have orange or red on them.

Actually Chaz, it's a Girdle Bug.

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw2/081400fotw.php


I agree though, we do not have real salmon flies (huge stonefly species) in the east - at least as far as I know. But hellgrammites are common in PA and the best imitation of them I've found is a dark olive wooly bugger