August FOTM - The Disco Shrimp (surface popper)
Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2020 4:20 pm
This month’s Fly of the month is my take on the West Aussie version of the Disco shrimp, a fly originally developed by American professional tier Drew Chicone (for Snook, Redfish, baby Tarpon etc). This fly was first introduced to our club by Perth kayak Bream fisher Paul Vogel, Paul took Drew’s original pattern and fine tuned it for a particular purpose ‘Surface fly fishing for Black Bream’ taking out the rattle and adding 2 x stinger hooks to improve the hook up rate. A lot of us who regularly tie and fish this fly have since taken to tying the body on a stainless-steel shank instead of a single hook (helps to reduce snagging) and using chenille for the under body / legs instead of dubbing (lazy man’s tying) 
. The Disco shrimp is a very effective surface prawn pattern that is generally fished in low light periods (Bream peak surface feeding times) and generally must be fished very tight into structure (trees, branches, reeds, stumps & pilons etc) for the best results. It has become the most effective and popular fly for Black Bream surface fishing in this state, so go tie some, get up super early and get amongst the fun!
Recipe: (original recipe is in the tying section of our website)
Assist hooks – 2 x Octopus hooks, Gamma B10S’s, Tiemco 784’s (your preference) in size 8, 10 or 12 tied onto assist braid or 20lb Fluorocarbon (this tie).
Body Shank – 35mm long Stainless-steel shank (this tie) or a size 4 # Gamma B10S (original tie).
Popper face – 2 x sequins (any colour), concave face outwards.
Thread – 210 Denier flat waxed nylon, colour of your preference.
Head/mouth parts – 2 x bunches of Artic Fox fur or rabbit fur in tan, orange, pink, grey, white etc. This version has a small tapered bunch of Unique hair (similar colour to the fur) on top.
Eyes – EP crab & shrimp eyes on mono stalks in black, red or colour of your choice.
Legs – 4 (1 pair each side) x Rubber legs of your choice, Loco legs, Grizzley flutter legs, Crusher legs etc. Many of the experienced guys prefer legs in UV flash/colours.
Feelers/antennae – 2 to 4 strands of Krystal flash, Midge flash or black Unique hair. Also can be in UV colours.
Body/legs – teased out dubbing like SLF blends (original tie) or Polar chenille (this tie) or 0.5” EP tarantula brush etc. Again many guys prefer a body material in UV flash/colours.
Foam body – 3mm thick fly foam in tan, grey, white, yellow, orange (colour of your preference). Do NOT use 2mm foam or the fly won’t float properly.
Add a swivel to the hook eye / shank eye to deal with any twist while casting.
Glue the thread tie in and tie off points with Zap a gap or similar glue for a hardier fly.
This fly should be fished on a short 6 ft (4 ft butt, 2 ft tippet) leader with a 10 – 20 lb monofilament tippet. The preferred strip once the fly has been presented right up into the structure is one or two tiny pops (don’t pull it out of the strike zone) to get the fishes attention then a long pause (several seconds) if you can’t see any interested Bream hovering below then give it another one or two tiny pops then another long pause and repeat the process until the fly is well out of the structure then re-cast and start again in a new position. Bream surface hits usually always come on the pause, if you can hold your nerve when you see a fish under the fly eventually the fish will lose their nerve and you will get an audible and memorable surface hit and hopefully a solid hook up.
. The Disco shrimp is a very effective surface prawn pattern that is generally fished in low light periods (Bream peak surface feeding times) and generally must be fished very tight into structure (trees, branches, reeds, stumps & pilons etc) for the best results. It has become the most effective and popular fly for Black Bream surface fishing in this state, so go tie some, get up super early and get amongst the fun!Recipe: (original recipe is in the tying section of our website)
Assist hooks – 2 x Octopus hooks, Gamma B10S’s, Tiemco 784’s (your preference) in size 8, 10 or 12 tied onto assist braid or 20lb Fluorocarbon (this tie).
Body Shank – 35mm long Stainless-steel shank (this tie) or a size 4 # Gamma B10S (original tie).
Popper face – 2 x sequins (any colour), concave face outwards.
Thread – 210 Denier flat waxed nylon, colour of your preference.
Head/mouth parts – 2 x bunches of Artic Fox fur or rabbit fur in tan, orange, pink, grey, white etc. This version has a small tapered bunch of Unique hair (similar colour to the fur) on top.
Eyes – EP crab & shrimp eyes on mono stalks in black, red or colour of your choice.
Legs – 4 (1 pair each side) x Rubber legs of your choice, Loco legs, Grizzley flutter legs, Crusher legs etc. Many of the experienced guys prefer legs in UV flash/colours.
Feelers/antennae – 2 to 4 strands of Krystal flash, Midge flash or black Unique hair. Also can be in UV colours.
Body/legs – teased out dubbing like SLF blends (original tie) or Polar chenille (this tie) or 0.5” EP tarantula brush etc. Again many guys prefer a body material in UV flash/colours.
Foam body – 3mm thick fly foam in tan, grey, white, yellow, orange (colour of your preference). Do NOT use 2mm foam or the fly won’t float properly.
Add a swivel to the hook eye / shank eye to deal with any twist while casting.
Glue the thread tie in and tie off points with Zap a gap or similar glue for a hardier fly.
This fly should be fished on a short 6 ft (4 ft butt, 2 ft tippet) leader with a 10 – 20 lb monofilament tippet. The preferred strip once the fly has been presented right up into the structure is one or two tiny pops (don’t pull it out of the strike zone) to get the fishes attention then a long pause (several seconds) if you can’t see any interested Bream hovering below then give it another one or two tiny pops then another long pause and repeat the process until the fly is well out of the structure then re-cast and start again in a new position. Bream surface hits usually always come on the pause, if you can hold your nerve when you see a fish under the fly eventually the fish will lose their nerve and you will get an audible and memorable surface hit and hopefully a solid hook up.
