Slow and Small/Never Seen Anyone Fish Like That/Dwarf Crayfish

We had a short warm spell last week and I tried to take advantage of it with a little fishing. I made a trip down to a lake near Port Gibson, thinking I would wade the water lilies which make the lake almost unfishable in the summer but are only stalks in the winter. No bueno, the water was muddy, the mud was deeper than my boots, and just the tall water lily stalks were giving me fits with casting. I had to punt. Even though I knew the white bass weren’t running, I decided to give the Bayou Pierre a shot before I drove back home. No bueno, but it was at least an opportunity to try some of my crayfish flies. Unfortunately the BP is not much good for fly fishing without the white bass. Without the white bass running it’s mostly just good for rough fish.

After my unsuccessful trip, I tried the local ponds by my house with my UV Crayfish pattern and to my dismay, the fish weren’t taking it. Thinking back on previous late winter trips, I think the pond fish tend to start their warm-up feeding routine slow, and small. I waited until almost dark, until I started seeing a few rings on the surface, then I began casting a Griffiths Gnat at the rings. I caught a few small bream.

In the vein of slow and small, I went to the house and tied up a few size 18 nymphs, just black thread with a thread rib. The next day I went back to the ponds and I hooked about 9 bream, still all pretty small, not the big bruisers I know are in there. Could it be the small ones have a higher metabolism and get started sooner than the larger fish? Just a guess. I just wish they would start eating my UV Crayfish. Sooner or later they will, I’m sure of it. Sooner would be better.

A neighbor, (a new neighbor), saw me casting my fly rod by the local pond and came down to ask me “What are you doing?” He told me he had, “never seen anyone fish like that”. This experience is all too common for fly fishers. We are the Rodney Dangerfields of Southern outdoorsmen. “We don’t get no respect”. It reminded me of the “Nobody from Mississippi fishes like that” comment I got on the coast. At least I haven’t heard the “Fly fishing is bullsh*t!” comment, screamed at me with full Doppler effect from a moving car emphasized by his inebriated co-conspirator, mooning me from the back seat. Too bad it was before camera phones…

Back during the summer, a friend presented a program on Bayou Pierre white bass for our fly fishing club. In the program he told the story of how the bait fishermen do extremely well on a tiny crayfish. I was talking to him about it and he offered to get me some photos. When he was in the area he went down to the some of the stagnant backwaters near the Bayou Pierre, caught a few of the diminutive crayfish and took some photos for me. What a guy!

I sent his photo to a Forest Service biologist specializing in crayfish and she identified these as Cambarellus shufeldtii, common name, “Cajun Dwarf” or Cambarellus Pruer, “Swamp Dwarf” crayfish. In either species the maximum adult size is 3/4 inch with maybe some of the biggest females reaching an inch. Dwarf crayfish! If I had seen one before learning this I am sure I would have thought they were just babies. When the Mississippi backs up the Bayou Pierre into the swampy backwaters, the white bass probably make a feast out of these tiny crustaceans. Notice the female, second from right, with its tail covered in eggs.

Using the photo I have been trying to match the little crayfish as closely as possible. My live model crayfish is the one all the way to the right. I love those orange claws! My latest fly creation is 3/4 of an inch long, just the body, not including the claws. It’s a size ten in 200R hooks which I bend in the shape of Daiichi Swimming Nymph hooks, which I use in size 12 and 14.

Practice makes perfect and I came up with a few new techniques that produce a better looking UV Crayfish. I guess it’s not that important to match the hatch perfectly, though size and color are important. It’s just fun to get as close as possible.