{{start}}

Prawns and shrimp are crustaceans, of the family Isopod, and are endemic to our Australian estuary waters. They are toward the top of the food chain for a lot of coastal species of fish including bream, flathead and whiting.

Prawns and shrimp are similar in form and function to each other and have segmented bodies that are almost clear with an olive to tan hue and have distinct legs.

This fly is a floating version of my PET prawn fly and can be a real game changer and so much fun when estuary species, particularly bream and whiting, are feeding on the surface.

Materials

Process

A	Wind the thread in touching turns to just past the bend of the hook. Understanding hooks

B	Cut a small bunch of hen hackle fibres and position them just beyond the bend of the hook so that when tied in they will face down a little with the tips extending a distance equal to the gape of the hook.

C	Lock them in with tight wraps of thread to represent the sieves and other mouth parts. Take the thread forward to the bend of the hook.

D	Select a few strands of angel hair and tie them in on top of the hook shank with the various length strands extending behind the fly.

F	Select a badger hackle with barbules about half as long as the gape of the hook and tie it in at the bend of the hook. Wet fly hackle Take a small bunch of dubbing and dub on a thorax over the back 1/4 of the hook shank. Dubbing techniques

G	Palmer the hackle forward with three or four separated turns over the thorax. Palmering hackle Lock it in with firm wraps of thread and a half hitch. Trim away the excess hackle and also the hackle fibres facing above the hook shank.

H	Take another pinch of dubbing and dub on diminishing amounts of dubbing down to behind the eye of the hook forming a cone shaped body.

I	The Carapace, abdomen shell & eyes of the prawn is made from clear or coloured PET packaging which is everywhere these days as it's used for packaging all sorts of things from tooth brushes to fishing terminal tackle. I have drawn the back outline, which should be the same length as the hook, in thicker than normal black permanent marker so as to ensure that the target shape is obvious. For the real thing I generally tie the outline using a thin marker of a similar colour to the thorax and body dubbing. Using coloured markers you can of course colour the PET. If your doing that I suggest you colour the side that is going to face don on the dubbed thorax and abdomen of the fly.

{{end}}