mystery of the mysis shrimp

[pillcaster]

so, I won the raffle at mu local TU meeting, and it was a collection of flies donated by the widow of a passed member. Lots of flies, most of which I could readily recognize, adams, woolly worm, humpy, royal wulff, muddler minnow, etc. Several, though, were new to me. Yesterday I received my new issue of the FF& tying journal ( a sponsor here, byw, and a great mag I look forward to the 4 issues a year), and on page 55, was one of the unusual (to me) flies in the box, a mysis (or opossum?) shrimp. The question that comes to mind is why was this western Virginia guy tying this great lakes fly? Are these little protein nuggets in our local tailwaters?? Or, did he travel UP NORTH? I realize these questions cant really be answered except by the tyer himself. If my heirs started giving away my flies, someone may wonder why I have so many October Caddis (i tied a bunch in anticipation of a trip OUT WEST that didn't materialize), or green drakes (which I hope to use this spring UP NORTH). Which brings me to the point...
1. Are there mysis shrimp south of Lake Erie?
2. I am really appalled that if I dropped dead some of my fly tying "experiments" would be given to anyone as something that may catch a fish????
3. Are you comfortable with you heirs giving away your flies? Not just the good ones, the ones you rejected but didn't discard.......

[ScottP]

The question that comes to mind is why was this western Virginia guy tying this great lakes fly?

Maybe he had been planning a trip out west - there are a few tailwaters where the mysis, discharged from the reservoirs above, produce some prodigious trout.

3. Are you comfortable with you heirs giving away your flies? Not just the good ones, the ones you rejected but didn't discard.......

My neighbor and I have a deal; whichever one goes first, the other gets all the flyfishing gear, including flies and tying materials. Fine by me; he's a great tyer, although he's more of a meat (streamer/nymph) fisherman than I am.

Regards,
Scott

[Steven]

Maybe he had been planning a trip out west - there are a few tailwaters where the mysis, discharged from the reservoirs above, produce some prodigious trout.

This. I think mysis were tranplanted there to support fish life in the man-made reservoirs. I think they're are also present in the reservoirs and tailwaters of Arkansas.

[ScottP]

I think mysis were tranplanted there to support fish life in the man-made reservoirs. I think they're are also present in the reservoirs and tailwaters of Arkansas.

Mysis shrimp were introduced into a number of lakes in NW Montana in the early 80's and, in conjunction with a growth in the lake trout populations, decimated the cutthroat and kokanee salmon in Flathead Lake. The decision to introduce the shrimp into Whitefish and Swan Lake (and by default Flathead which these lakes flow into) was based on observations from a very small and skewed sample in a lake in British Columbia where kokanee salmon experienced, initially, a surge in size and numbers after the mysis were introduced (but then crashed as the shrimp began to compete with salmon fry for food). The shrimp moved to the top of the water column during the day, making them available to fish like cutthroats/kokanee.
What the folks didn't realize was that this lake was the exception to the norm, and the Montana mysis (usually photosensitive) stayed deep during the day (where the lakers could get to them), and came up at night, when the cutts/kokes didn't feed.
As a side note, the kokanees used to run up the Flathead River into Glacier National Park in the fall, and were feasted on by large numbers of bald eagles; when the kokes disappeared most of the eagles vacated the premises (many moved across the Rockies to the Missouri). I was lucky enough to see the tail end of a kokanee run in the late 80's up by Apgar in GNP; about 20 bald eagles in/around McDonald Creek - cool, but nothing like the numbers had been previously.

Regards,
Scott