Irish Shrimp Flies

[Dave Westburg]

Picked up Peter O'Reilly's book Trout and Salmon Flies of Ireland and have been tying irish shrimp flies in my non-fishing moments. The irish fish their shrimp flies with a stripped retrieve to make the golden pheasant at the tail come alive. Sounds like there are possibilities for searun cutthroat. Here are a couple boxes which I've tied up. The double hooks are for use on Cowlitz hatchery fish. Have also attached photos of a Black Shrimp and an Easky Gold Shrimp and a Red and Gold . They look like they'd work for steelhead.

[Hywel]

Dave,

Nice ties.

You must have very deep pockets, man. Not only is that a lot of Jungle Cock, it appears to be prime Jungle Cock, too!

On an aside; Are doubles Kosher on the Cowlitz?

Hywel

[Hal Eckert]

Very nice, I need to find a source of good jungle cock at reasonable prices, any thoughts on that ?

:beer2:

BG

[Dave Westburg]

Black ghost, wish I had a line on a magical, low cost supplier of jungle capes but I don't. I try to buy the best because I tie flies to frame. The last cape I bought came from Castle Arms. Many of the board's sponsors sell jungle in lots of ten. That's a nice way to tie without having all your money tied up in inventory.

There are many Irish shrimp patters (e.g. Apache Shrimp, Badger and Orange Shrimp, Badger and Red Shrimp, Juner Shrimp, John Anthony shrimp) which don't require jungle eyes if you can't find a good source.

Hywel, far as I know there are no gear restrictions restrictions on the Cowlitz because there are no natives.

[Willie Bodger]

Nice ties, Dave. Any chance you would want to post the recipe?

[Matt Burke]

NICE!

[Dave Westburg]

Here are the patterns:

Easky Gold Shrimp
Hook: Size 6-12, single or double. I used a size 5 Alec Jackson gold hook.
Tag: Medium oval gold tinsel.
Tail: Golden Pheasant red breast feather, wound.
Rear Body: Oval gold tinsel.
Middle Hackle: Hot Orange.
Front Body: Oval gold tinsel.
Front Hackle: Red
Eyes: Jungle .

The tail should be 1/4 to 3/8 longer than the hook shank. The middle hackle should reach the bank of the bend of the hook. The front hackle should reach back over the mid-point of the hook

Red and Gold Shrimp
Hook: Size 6-12 single or double. I used a size 4 Daiichi double hook because I'll use the fly for winter steelhead.
Tag: Oval gold tinsel.
Tail: Golden Pheasant red breast feather, wound.
Body: Oval gold tinsel.
Veiling: Small hen hackle tied above and below the hook at the head.
Hackles: Red three turns, followed by Badger three turns.
Wings: Jungle , tented.
Head: Red

Black Shrimp
Hook: Size 6-12, single, double, or treble.
Tag: Oval silver tinsel.
Tail: Dyed black golden pheasant feather or dyed black blue eared pheasant feather, wound.
Rear Body: Flourescent yellow or plain yellow floss ribbed with oval silver tinsel.
Middle Hackle: Hot orange.
Front Body: Black floss ribbed with oval silver tinsel.
Front hackle: Black.
Eyes: Jungle , optional.
Head black.

Have seen some versions of this shrimp fly tied with black squirrel tail or black bucktail for the tail.

[Dave Westburg]

Have added one more shrimp fly. It's a Curry's Red Shrimp. It's used both in the UK and for Atlantic Salmon in Canada in the fall. Here's the pattern:

Tag: Oval silver tinsel.
Tail: Golden Pheasant red feather, wound.
Rear Body: Red floss ribbed with fine oval silver tinsel.
Veiling: Red hen hackles tied above and below the hook.
Mid-hackle: Badger.
Front Body: Black floss ribbed with fine oval silver tinsel.
Veiling: Red hen hackles tied above and below the hook.
Front Hackle: Badger.
Wing: Jungle , tented.

[FT]

Dave,

I've been tying and fishing Irish Shrimp flies for 15 years and they are indeed very good steelhead flies, especially in lower water.

By the way, it is nice to see someone else tying them.

[Dave Westburg]

What patterns and what sizes do you fish?

[Will Atlas]

the first thought I had when I saw them was...sweet flies! the second was, damn thats alot of jungle cock! That stuffs expensive. I was going to try and order some artifical jungle cock (I think its painted on to other feathers) but I forgot. anyone have experience with that stuff?

[Preston]

I've often considered tying some Irish (or British or European) shrimp flies for steelhead and don't see why they wouldn't be an outstanding choice for sea-run cutthroat. All of the imitation jungle cock nails I've seen have been printed on a sort of plasticized paper and while they look a little like the real thing (sort of), I only tied a couple of flies with them before going back to the real thing. Even on the lesser-grade skins, the split nails can nearly all be used by smearing a thin layer of Aquaseal, Softex or Flexament on the back side of the feather to glue them back together.

While there are no gear restrictions on the Cowlitz, there are a native sea-run cutthroat (all unmarked cutthroat must be released); in addition to the Toutle River, there are a large number of creeks that have populations of both resident and migratory cutthroat. The ban on double hooks applies only to fly-fishing-only waters.

[Hal Eckert]

So a grade C JC cape is good enough for regular fishing flys (non display/comp) I take it, need to tie some Pot Belly Pigs a UK salmon fly pattern. Will be starting to search for a cape, as my local fly shops do not deal in JC, to specialized material for their fly tyers they tell me.

Forgot those fake JC packages, tried them, have also guniea body feathers, lacquer them make a decent eye feather, a Dick Stewart tip from his book Fly Tying Tips & reference Guide - 3rd edtion has lots of other great tips in it.

:beer2:

BG

[Salmon Chaser]

Cascade,,, leave the fake stuff alone!! A Salmon or steelhead fly should have the JC omitted before adding that stuff. Take your time,,, do a lot of searching and you can find 2nd grade pelts for decent prices. You don't need the A++ pelts,,, they are only for anal tyers or actual pros. 2nd and sometimes grade 3's can and will do nicely. Use them when you can,,, cause any fly swung over an atlantic salmon deserves to be dressed properly:thumb:
Salmon Chaser