Just measured a few; they come in at almost the inch mark minus antennae and mouth parts, so not far off. May have to go with a #8 or #10 hook to get all the way there.

Have you looked at the one minute mysis patterns? Very simple and very effective on trout that eat those nearly transparent buggers in very clear streams. An adaptation of those might be a good match and easier to tie than lots of other shrimp patterns. Just a thought.

I've tied many mysis patterns as they were very prevalent in the Blue River up in Colorado when I was there for over ten years. I like tying though and trying different patterns however I often get stuck in a rut with what I actually fish. Just trying to come up with something based on the picture I saw on this thread with regards to what is in Somerville.

Looks great Bones. I've seen all the flies you post in the fly tying section. You tie some really outstanding flies

I have never tied or fished with freshwater shrimp patterns, but I've often thought about it, since white bass love them and sunfish also feed on them.

As soon as we get a good rain fall the white bass will be moving into the creeks. You can come down and we can test them out

Sounds really good J-Moe thanks for the invite. I have a mess of clouser styles I'd like to try too. Rain may be another question though. Remembering back to when I was here before from '92 to '04 rain doesn't really rear its head until February.

I've seen them caught and used in the summer and they were less than 3/4 inches. The ones I saw this fall are closer to 1 inch long. Like you said the guys net them from the grass.

It's very interesting. The only time I can remember anything out catching the magical clouser below the dam when the flow is cut off was by a guy using freshwater shrimp. He was using light line and little or no weight. I fished beside another guy at the dam twice. He was using a heavy drop shot rig with the freshwater shrimp and I out caught him by about 8 to 1 with the magical clouser.

It's been proven over and over that when the dam is closed the white bass and hybrid fishing is far more successful with lighter line and lighter, smaller baits/lures/flies. If I go from a size 8 clouser with small bead chain to a size 6 clouser with large bead chain I significantly reduce my catch rate. And on several occasions I've given the Fishtales video dude some 6 lb. fluorocarbon because he couldn't catch them on the 12 lb. he likes to use

I brought my mom and sister up to fish at the Irwin bridge on Wednesday and we had a good time. We caught all the small bream you can ever want. Mom caught a 11" white bass on a minnow. I caught 4 crappie while throwing rooster tails. Green was the favorite color today. Only 1 crappie was keeper size. A fella came down late in the afternoon and put a bream on a hook and threw it out to the left of where the concrete is visible in the water and hooked a big blue cat less than 5 minutes later. The cat was 43 1/2" long and weighed 33 lbs. He packed up and said that was enough fun for him for one evening. Back on graveyards now, hoping I can get back on the water next week. Good luck everyone.

Kayaked up the Yegua Friday and finally found some fish..
lots of small Black bass a few whitebass and several crappie..
nothing to write home about but a very good start for the season.
I've heard a report suggesting that the whitebass have moved into the shallow upper end and have been seen chasing shad.
I suspect the fish might move up under the full moon and maybe what we did catch Friday is proof of that, and all the birds working the area.

We went back up the Yegua in the ProDrive again today (Saturday around noon) and was very surprised to see only one other boat up there.
We didn't fish this trip so I got no report other than the creek looks great.

Thanks for the good reports, all. Might be time to head that way again next weekend.

Well based on research and input from here I did some smaller variants of the shrimp pattern. From what I read the shrimp in Somerville are Ohio/Ohio River Shrimp (common name). There are four freshwater species in Texas but the Ohio Shrimp are the most prevalent and the least colorful being mostly clear as has been pointed out. They say they can be completely clear or have a very translucent tan or olive tint to them. Apparently they also migrate a long ways between living and breeding areas. They can be about 3 to 4 inches at max size other shrimp in the state can achieve lengths to 8 inches and some of them like the Long Claw Shrimp look downright scary. Pretty interesting read fin one article there was college kid that did it on a project about freshwater shrimp in Texas think he was going to school in San Marcos. Any way this is what I came up with. Put it on a 2X long, 1X heavy #12 nymph hook. Body including rostrum comes in at a little less than 3/4 of an inch.

Great post Bones72. i don't even fly fish but found that an interesting read.

Just got word from the folks over at the park that they are working on the road to Newmans Bottom with hopes to open in time for the whitebass run.
As all of you know the weather always has the final say-so with any of the work to be done.
We certainly need some rain to make the whitebass / crappie run better by bringing up the creek and lake level but that can cause serious delays in getting access.
It will be so nice to be able to get to the creek and not have to walk so far to fish it.

Thanks for the update, Ben. I don't even mind the walking as long as we have access. There are so many good bank fishing spots along Newman's.

I fished at Irwin Bridge Saturday morning. I caught 9 small bass, 1 bluegill and one small crappie in about an hour. While I was fishing I heard a bunch of noise and water moving around the fallen trees. It was a group of 5 otters coming up stream. I thought I was watching one of the river monsters episodes with the river otters They came into the pool in front of me. They were extending their necks out of the water and talking all kinds of trash to me. Another cool moment in the outdoors