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Mid-Michigan River

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What a find.

 

Pat and I did some work for this forum by searching some aged logs.

The first log revealed what we thought was quite a good size Stonefly Nymph. It was missing a leg, which it could have lost in an arguement with one of the crayfish that lived in the area. ohmy.gif

 

user posted image

 

We continued our search in the same eddy and hit the motherlode. This log was quite weathered and contained an entire ecosystem.

 

We ran across some freshwater shrimp. I never thought that our rivers contained them in any numbers.

 

user posted image

 

You can bet that I will start fishing some shrimp and large scud patterns in the years to come.

 

Here's the daddy of all stoneflies. As a matter of fact, I'll never wade again..LOL

It was close to 2" long. Check out the coloration of the legs and in between the segmentation.

 

user posted image

 

To top it off, this log also had some very large casebuilders

 

user posted image

 

 

It's alive, it's alive

 

Here's a picture of the variety that lived in and on the log. Notice the little rockworms (?) and the caddis out of it's case

 

user posted image

 

To say that we learned something would be an understatement. The first 2 casts after the discovery of these larger stones produced fish.

 

Here's a pic of the underside of these stones. I will be changing my patterns to emphasize the contrast.

 

user posted image

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Shoe it's good to see that you ran across a freshwater shrimp, I haven't heard to many of you MI boys talking about them so you may be onto something.....I wouldn't be spreading that around too much. biggrin.gif

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I've seen the shrimp before but never thought they were around in such numbers until this find.

 

I put on a stone imitation right after this and landed a chunky brown and a bugle nosed trout. I will be experimenting with stones to come up with a more realistic pattern. Notice the antennae aren't thick like biots that are use more often then not. Also the belly is light colored and has brown in between the segments and the legs are colored. I also noticed that the abdomen segments aren't very much compared to the rest of the fly. They are mostly wing pads and thorax. Most patterns focus on the abdomen which seems to be a mistake. They are also flat and wide rather than round.

 

What a learning experience this trip was. Now if I can get over my fear of going in the water after seeing 3 of those monsters milling around. bugeyes.gif

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Thanks Chip

 

No tripod, we just got lucky. smile.gif

 

Actually we took about 16 pics and picked the best ones. Too bad it was so cold. I wanted to turn some rocks, but with temps below freezing I wasn't about to reach too deep. (the water was still up)

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Mysis shrimp is a really common bug in the muskegon river, but almost all the patterns are white, yours appeared dark. What color was it in person and what size, roughly? Also what size were those stones. Great pictures guys.

 

john

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John

 

That shrimp was quite dark, but somewhat translucent with a red spot on his back. I'm sure they take on the color of the environment. I would say an 8

The stones were almost a 2, at least a 4 3X long

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Ralf,

 

Amazing post, man! keep up the great work!! Loved all the pics! kinda gets the ol' heart racing when I think about the critters crawling around in my KY streams!!!

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Thanks Brother Hubbard

 

Pat and I were like little kids on that log. We must have spent the better part of an hour checking it out.

 

I'll have to get some type of "streamside guide" to insects and some vials to bring them home in

 

What fun wink.gif

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show, was the red spot on the outside of the shrimp or in the inside?

 

I know that pregnant scuds have an orange egg sac smack dab in the middle of thier bodies.

 

john

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That could be what it was John. It was nearly directly on the backside near the middle of the shrimp under the shell.

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I betcha it was, Size 8 on a scud hook? That is a big scud, bigger than I ever thought to tie. May just have to now though. I am really glad you two took the time and effort to photograph the stuff. What river were you on?

 

John

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