October FOTM - The Ultimate shrimp
Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2020 10:09 am
Sorry for the lateness of this one guys.
October’s Fly of the Month is the Ultimate Shrimp. Originally created by professional fly tier Johnno Makim this fly is a shallow, clear water flats specialist in my opinion, a good fly for those crystal-clear flats where a fly that’s too big, too bright or too flashy will usually spook the fish. The Ultimate shrimp is a smaller fly pattern representing a juvenile prawn or glass shrimp that is designed to ride hook point up and be fished on the bottom. It’s also a very hardy pattern that doesn’t foul too much.
The recipe – in order of tying.
Hook – size 2# Mustad Big Game or S/S O’Shaughnessy.
Thread – Clear mono thread.
Dumbbell eyes – Medium size brass dumbbells.
Mouth parts/body – A small tapered bunch of Super hair/Unique hair in clear/white colour (standard) or Microlon in clear/white or sand/tan colour or a combo of Unique hair with some Artic fox under for some more movement. Tied in protruding forward about the same as the hook length, then tied/bound under the hook shank all the way to the hook eye and tied off in a splayed fashion protruding about 4mm forward of the hook eye.
Antennae – 2 x (1 each side) strands of Midge flash, Krystal flash or black Super hair.
Eyes – 2 x small or medium sized EP crab & shrimp eyes or Epoxy mono crab eyes (your choice of colour).
Legs – 4 x (2 each side) Crazy legs in clear/pearl flake colour (standard) or Chicone’s barred regular crusher legs in brown/clear, black/clear or sand/clear etc or a combo of (cut one shorter than the other each side).
Carapace colour – A small pinch of SLF blends dubbing in sculpin brown or crayfish brown or brown stone or crayfish orange etc dubbed onto the first third of the body.
Head/Body – 2 to 3 coats of UV hard resin to form a rough prawn/shrimp shape.
This fly is usually fished on a full floating line or intermediate tip floating line in the shallows with a 9 – 10’ leader with 16 – 20lb fluorocarbon tippet and a very short/small strip along the bottom (making small puffs of sand preferably). This fly will catch nearly every species that hunts/feeds on a tropical flat, such as Permit, all Trevally species (incl big giant trevs), Yellowfin bream, big Bonefish, Blue Bastards, all Emperor species, Tuskfish etc etc.
October’s Fly of the Month is the Ultimate Shrimp. Originally created by professional fly tier Johnno Makim this fly is a shallow, clear water flats specialist in my opinion, a good fly for those crystal-clear flats where a fly that’s too big, too bright or too flashy will usually spook the fish. The Ultimate shrimp is a smaller fly pattern representing a juvenile prawn or glass shrimp that is designed to ride hook point up and be fished on the bottom. It’s also a very hardy pattern that doesn’t foul too much.
The recipe – in order of tying.
Hook – size 2# Mustad Big Game or S/S O’Shaughnessy.
Thread – Clear mono thread.
Dumbbell eyes – Medium size brass dumbbells.
Mouth parts/body – A small tapered bunch of Super hair/Unique hair in clear/white colour (standard) or Microlon in clear/white or sand/tan colour or a combo of Unique hair with some Artic fox under for some more movement. Tied in protruding forward about the same as the hook length, then tied/bound under the hook shank all the way to the hook eye and tied off in a splayed fashion protruding about 4mm forward of the hook eye.
Antennae – 2 x (1 each side) strands of Midge flash, Krystal flash or black Super hair.
Eyes – 2 x small or medium sized EP crab & shrimp eyes or Epoxy mono crab eyes (your choice of colour).
Legs – 4 x (2 each side) Crazy legs in clear/pearl flake colour (standard) or Chicone’s barred regular crusher legs in brown/clear, black/clear or sand/clear etc or a combo of (cut one shorter than the other each side).
Carapace colour – A small pinch of SLF blends dubbing in sculpin brown or crayfish brown or brown stone or crayfish orange etc dubbed onto the first third of the body.
Head/Body – 2 to 3 coats of UV hard resin to form a rough prawn/shrimp shape.
This fly is usually fished on a full floating line or intermediate tip floating line in the shallows with a 9 – 10’ leader with 16 – 20lb fluorocarbon tippet and a very short/small strip along the bottom (making small puffs of sand preferably). This fly will catch nearly every species that hunts/feeds on a tropical flat, such as Permit, all Trevally species (incl big giant trevs), Yellowfin bream, big Bonefish, Blue Bastards, all Emperor species, Tuskfish etc etc.