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Golden Stonefly (Acroneuria spp.)
Stonefly, hatching June–July, active in water between 55 and 68°F, and imitated at #6–10. Recorded from northern Wisconsin, where 1247 Wisconsin rivers on this site carry a page.
A large amber-and-brown stonefly, size 6 to 10, with two tails and a nymph flattened for holding in fast water. The nymph lives in riffles and broken water for two or three years, amber and mottled brown, which means a weighted imitation on the bottom is worth fishing on any day of any month rather than only during the emergence. The peak for the insect itself is June and July, in water from 55 to 68 degrees, a band covering cold, cold-transitional and cool streams. Adults crawl out onto rocks and banks to emerge in early summer, and they do it at night; the part that shows above water is the egg-laying females in the evening, which bring fish up. A Golden Stone Nymph in 6 to 12 or Pat's Rubber Legs in 4 to 10 covers the nymph, and a Stimulator or Chubby Chernobyl covers the adult on the surface.
- #6–10Hook size
- 55–68°FWater, active
- Jun–JulPeak months
- 2Life stages fished
What it is
Stonefly · Acroneuria spp. · nymph → adult
A large amber-and-brown stonefly, size 6 to 10, with two tails and a flattened nymph built for holding in fast water.
The nymph lives three years in the rocks, so it is worth fishing any day of any month. The adult crawls out at night.
When it hatches
Peak is June–July. The pale months either side are the shoulder — the app widens a peak by one month in each direction and recommends the bug there, and no further: that widening is bounded so that a bug peaking in May is never offered in August.
peak shoulder not recommended
Water conditions
The band is a water temperature, not an air temperature, and it is the range in which this insect is worth fishing — for a mayfly that is the emergence window; for a scud or a midge it is simply the range trout will still eat one in.
Active from 55°F to 68°F. On this map that is cold, cold-transitional, cool water — the band crosses 2 of the three breaks the river colours use. Breaks at 58, 64 and 70°F.
Stages
What the insect is doing, and what that means for what you tie on.
| Stage | What it is |
|---|---|
| nymph | Lives in riffles and broken water for two or three years. Amber and mottled brown, weighted, on the bottom. |
| adult | Crawls out onto rocks and banks to emerge in early summer. Egg-laying females bring fish up in the evening. |
Matching flies
4 patterns in this book imitate the Golden Stonefly, across its stages. Which one to tie on follows the stage the water temperature says it is in — the app makes that call on a live reading; this page lists the whole set.
- Chubby Chernobyl dry fly · #8–14 — Foam attractor and indicator in one. Hopper-dropper season starts here.
- Golden Stone Nymph nymph · #6–12 — A three-year nymph, so it is never out of season. Heavy, and fished on the bottom.
- Pat's Rubber Legs nymph · #4–10 — Ugly, heavy, and the single best searching nymph in high or coloured water.
- Stimulator dry fly · #8–16 — Attractor and stonefly both. Floats a dropper better than almost anything.
Where to find it right now
The rivers with a page here that sit in this insect's regions, with a USGS gauge reporting water temperature. This list is re-ranked against the reading each gauge is sending now and today's date, so it is live — the fallback below it, if the readings do not arrive, is each river's measured July mean.
- Amo Creek northern Wisconsin · July mean 63.3°F
- Big Slough northern Wisconsin · July mean 63.3°F
- Cisna Creek northern Wisconsin · July mean 63.3°F
- East Fork Halls Creek northern Wisconsin · July mean 63.3°F
- Halls Creek northern Wisconsin · July mean 63.3°F
- Judkins Creek northern Wisconsin · July mean 63.3°F
- North Branch Trempealeau River northern Wisconsin · July mean 63.3°F
- Pigeon Creek northern Wisconsin · July mean 63.3°F
- Schermerhorn Creek northern Wisconsin · July mean 63.3°F
- South Branch Trempealeau River northern Wisconsin · July mean 63.3°F
Regional presence
Regions, not collection records. This insect is recorded from the coarse regions below; nobody has surveyed which named river it has been caught on, and this page will not pretend otherwise.
- northern lower Michigan MI
- the Upper Peninsula MI
- northern Wisconsin WI
- the Virginia mountains VA
- the North Carolina mountains NC
- southeast Minnesota MN
Rivers in these regions with a page here
- Saint Croix River
- Adams Creek
- Alder Creek
- Alder Creek
- Allen Creek
- Allen Creek
- Allen Creek
- Allenton Creek
- Allequash Creek
- Alvin Creek
- Amo Creek
- Anderson Creek
- Annis Creek
- Apple Creek
- Apple River
- Arkansaw Creek
- Armstrong Creek
- Armstrong Creek
- Arnold Creek
- Auburn Lake Creek
- Augustine Creek
- Augustyn Creek
- Austin Creek
- Avery Creek
- and 1223 more
Related hatches
Same family, or overlapping this one's calendar on the same water.
- Little Yellow Sally Isoperla spp. · Stonefly · June–August
- Giant Black Stonefly (Salmonfly) Pteronarcys dorsata · Stonefly · May–June
- Little Brown Stonefly Taeniopteryx / Strophopteryx spp. · Stonefly · February–April
- Little Black Stonefly Allocapnia / Capnia spp. · Stonefly · January–April
- Light Cahill Maccaffertium ithaca · Mayfly · May–July