The other day I found myself going through my fly boxes in preparation for the season to come. Wishful thinking, I guess, when you consider how little fishing I got in last season.
While sorting through the half-dozen boxes, I realized just how many fish I have caught over the years on shrimp patterns, and just how many patterns there are.
When it comes to freshwater shrimp, there are two things you can always count on. One, trout like to eat shrimp. And two, fish in lakes where there is a healthy shrimp population will be plump and heavy for their length. Also, if you ever plan on eating one of the fish you catch, you will notice those that have been feeding on shrimp taste better.
Shrimp are calorie-rich and a preferred food source for trout. This is especially true in early spring and late fall. Trout can become somewhat dependent on shrimp for their calorie intake in the spring, prior to chironomid hatches coming off, and in the fall, when most insect hatches are all but over.
Freshwater shrimp or scuds, as they are sometimes referred to, are actually crustaceans. They can range in size and colour according to the nutrient levels and chemical composition of the water in which they live. Shrimp require high levels of calcium to form the hard plastic-like shell along their back. Generally, productive lakes are also calcium-rich.
Shrimp seldom venture far from the shelter of the sub-aquatic flora growing on the shoals and along the drop-offs of many, if not most, of our Interior lakes. They can live in water that is less than a foot deep, to waters that are up to 25-feet deep, as long as there are plants or debris to provide shelter.
Gammarus shrimp are the most common species of shrimp in B.C.’s lakes and are the most commonly imitated by fly tiers, though there are literally hundreds of different shrimp patterns tied.
Many shrimp patterns are lake-specific. One of my favourite patterns is a pale olive pregnant shrimp. Fish are essentially visual feeders and I think the bright orange egg sack underneath along the abdomen gives the fish something to hone in on.
It is important to work a shrimp pattern close to the bottom – in amongst the real thing. A floating line with a long leader can be very effective. Depending on the depth, a 10- to 12-foot leader with appropriate tippet is usually sufficient.
Last season I used one of the new Rio ‘Streamer Tip’ lines, which is essentially a florescent yellow floating line with a 9.5 foot clear intermediate sinking tip, to which I added an slightly shorter eight-foot fluorocarbon leader and a couple of feet of regular monofilament tippet. The sinking tip and fluorocarbon leader material is almost invisible in the water and gets the fly down quickly into the feeding zone of the fish.
Although shrimp can swim relatively fast for their size, they only swim in short bursts. They swim in an elongated position and curl when resting. Many newer shrimp patterns are tied on curved-shank ‘shrimp’ hooks, while other, more traditional patterns are tied on standard straight-shank hooks.
Hook style and type of retrieve should work together. A slow retrieve of approximately six- to eight-inch strips, with a pause between pulls and interspersed with occasional quick pulls, will simulate the swimming motion of the natural shrimp.
Shrimp patterns are too often overlooked in many anglers’ fly boxes. Freshwater shrimp, on the other hand, are seldom overlooked by feeding trout.