Tidal flats shrimp – tan

 

This fly is basically my original mud prawn that I released in 2003 and have now miniaturised and modified so as to represent the sort shrimp that you find on tidal flats in tropical waters.

On my next trip to CXI this year I am expecting that this variation will work really well particularly on bigger bones and various trevally which are often encountered on the flats.

As an aside I note there is anecdotal evidence that there are permit and even bonefish on some of the local Central Queensland tidal flats so the search is on to find them.

This tan version is the most translucent of my tidal flats shrimp and is my go to version for crystal clear water.

flats-shrimp-i

Materials

 

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Hook Weight Thread Mouth parts Flash Head Eyes Feelers Body Legs
Mustard 34007 SS #2 to #6 4mmm lead split shot. Kevlar natural 200 Tan SLF Pearl krystal flash Tan SLF Plastic haberdashery beads Tan silicon legs Super hair with a few strands of Pearl Flash or Tiewell Krystalflash Tan silicon legs

Process

A
  1. Solder a lead shot to the hook shank.

  2. Starting behind the lead shot wind the thread to the bend of the hook and half way back to the lead shot.
flats-shrimp-a

B
  1. Tie a small tuft of Synthetic Living Fiber (SLF) with the tips extending beyond the hook a distance equal to the gape on the hook.
flats-shrimp-b

C
  1. Tie in 4 strands of pearl krystal flash with the tips extending beyond the hook a distance equal to twice the gape on the hook.
flats-shrimp-c

D
  1. Dub the area between the tie in of the SLF mouth parts and krystal flash with a little SLF.
flats-shrimp-d

E
  1. Take a length of plastic bead chain and with the tips of your pliers squeeze of the second, third, fourth and fifth beads.
  2. Tie the bead chain eyes in directly behind the lead shot.
flats-shrimp-e

F
  1. Trim away the excess plastic bead chain.
  2. I generally put a drop of UV epoxy on the tie in of the bead chain eyes and hold them up in the preferred finishing position whilst the UV epoxy is cured. That is sloping back at 45% and slightly separated.
  3. Take a length of silicon legs, double it up and tie that in with the loose ends extending between the eyes a distance, behind the hook, equal to the length of the hook.
flats-shrimp-f

G
  1. Cut the fold in the silicon legs and take the tow loose ends back down between the eyes and on top of the first two feelers tied in during the previous step.
  2. Lock all 4 feelers in with a couple of firm wraps of thread.
  3. Apply and cure a further drop of UV epoxy over the tie in of the feelers and take the thread forward over the led shot.
  4. Tie in a bed of thread on the remaining front shank of the hook.
flats-shrimp-g

H
  1. Select a bunch of super hair about a thick as a two match sticks and tie that in half way between the eye of the hook and the lead shot.
  2. Trim away the butt end of the super hair so that it just covers and stand proud of the eye of the hook an trim the other end so that is lays between the eyes and over the top of the barb of the hook and extend a distance equal to the length of the hook.
flats-shrimp-h

I
  1. Tie in a set of legs on each side of the fly "Chernobyl" style. I like the two front legs to be only about half as long as the hook and the ends that extend backward about half as long again.
  2. Apply a small amount of UV epoxy to the tie in of the super hair and the Chernobyl style legs and cure that whilst rotating the fly.

flats-shrimp-i