The Wild Fishing Forum

A while ago whilst looking at a picture of a Parasitised shrimp a bolt from the blue hit me. (Ouch) We all know of Neil Paterson?s excellent hot spot shrimp. I say excellent because it is a known fish catcher and is his interpretation of a parasitised shrimp. But it has never worked for me! So I decided to do my own imitation, more closely resembling the natural. What follows is my effort, which has so far proved successful for me on a range of rivers. I have an idea to improve on its appearance, but whether it will improve its success rate I know not. I will of course keep you informed. Until then though, this is ?draft 1?

Instructions assume right-handed tyers.

HOOK ? Kamasan B110 # 16 ? 12 (12 here)
WEIGHT ? Round Lead Wire
THREAD ? Grey Roman Moser Power Silk
RIB ? 3 LB Clear Monos
BACK ? Clear Flexi-body
BODY ? 2 Brown/Olive & 1 Green/Olive Ostrich Herls
PARASITE ? Orange Tulip T-Shirt Paint
SHELL ? Epoxy

STEP 1
Mount the hook and apply a smear of Super Glue to the bare shank.



Then wrap lead wire over the wet glue.



Over-wrap with thread, building a taper at either end of the wire.



STEP 2
Nibble the end of the mono to give better grip.



Then tie in. Tie it down all the way to the end of the body.



STEP 3
Cut the flexi-body into a lozenge shape. It pays to do a few at a time.



Tie in centred and on top of the hook shank.





STEP 4
Tie in the Ostrich Herl. Take the thread to the head.



STEP 5
Twist the Herl into a rope.



Then wrap to form the body. Sweep the fibres back after each turn of Herl.





Finally, take a Velcro brush and brush the fibres down each side (put a centre parting in it)



STEP 6
Pull the flexi-body over the back and tie down at the head.



Try to keep it central.



STEP 7
Wrap the rib in open spirals to the head and tie off.



Whipfinish and tie off.





STEP 8
Take your ?paint?



And apply a stripe on the back of the fly, near the rear of the shrimp. I prefer to do a few at a time.



STEP 9
Allow this to dry, then coat the back with epoxy for the completed shrimp. I find it best if you wet the Herl before epoxying, there is less chance of the epoxy leaching into the fibres this way.