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I came up with the design for this fly in 2011 and have used it with great success ever since.

Designed to be fished with a stop start retrieve along the bottom this fly looks very much like a shrimp or prawn that is in row carrying eggs)and is an ideal fly for targeting bottom feeders such as bream, flathead, flounder, whiting, bonefish or tropical trigger fish.

Because of the lead shot it sinks quickly, swims hook point up, resisting snagging up on detritus matter or bottom structure such as shells or small stones, and has the added benefit on soft bottoms of kicking up a little sand or mud in much the same way as the natural as it is retrieved.

Materials

Process

A	This is an easy way to add a led shot to a hook shank. Take a lead split shot and using a knife blade open up the split. Adding weight to a fly Press the shank of the hook down into the split in the shot and using a pair of pointed pliers crimp the split closed just enough to hold the shot in position.

B	Place your hook into a vice, or as I prefer into the jaw of a pair of vice grips. I use the vice grips as they give better control over the soldering process below. Because the shot is only lightly crimped on the hook shank you can still move it so carefully adjust the lead shot so that it's the width of the lead shot from the eye of the hook and when looked at from the front it is symmetrical and balanced. Heat your soldering iron up and once hot place the tip of the soldering iron on top of the split of the lead shot to heat it up. As soon as you see the lead shot starting to melt introduce the solder to the soldering iron tip and it will run into the cavity in the lead shot locking the lead shot into its permanent position.

C	Put the fly in the vice hook point up. Using nail polish paint the lead shot your preferred colour. Red, yellow and orange are my preferred colours.

D	Tie your thread in behind the lead shot and wind it backward down the hook shank in touching turns until directly below the point of the hook Understanding hooks Tie in a small bunch of krystal flash to represent the sieves and mouth parts with the tips of the krystal flash extending beyond the hook a distance about equal to the gape of the hook.

E	Take a length of plastic bead chain eyes and with a pair of needle nose pliers squash off as many beads as required to leave you eyes that are the right width apart. For this size #2 fly I have removed 5 beads.

F	Tie the eyes in using figure of eight wraps directly below the point of the hook. Select a wet fly hackle that has barbules ranging in length from the width of the gape of the hook at the narrow end to about twice the gape of the hook at the wider end. Tie the wide end of the hackle in directly behind the bead chain eyes.

G	Dub in a short cigar shaped body between where the hackle is tied in and the back of the lead shot.

H	Palmer the hackle forward to a position directly behind the lead shot. Tie the thread off behind the lead shot with a few firm wraps of thread. Do a couple of half hitches in the thread behind the lead shot. Multiple hitches done by hand

I	Trim away the remaining hackle tip away using a blade. Take the thread forward over the lead shot to a position half way between the lead shot and the eye of the hook.

J	Tie a bunch of superhair hair half way between the lead shot and the eye of the hook with the end that protrudes over the eye of the hook about as long as the gape of the hook and the other end extending above and beyond the bite of the hook a distance equal to the length of the hook. Tie the thread off and whip finish the thread directly behind the eye of the hook and under the super hair.

K	Trim away the excess thread. Lift the super hair up and put a drop or two of UV epoxy in the gap between the lead shot and where the super hair is tied in. Before the UV epoxy cures pull the wing down over the lead shot and into the epoxy and add additional epoxy over the super hair above the lead shot and where the super hair is tied in. I don't rotate this fly at this stage so its important that you only apply as much epoxy as is needed because if you apply too much your epoxy will run. Whilst continuing to hold that in place with your left hand using your right hand use your UV torch to cure the epoxy.

L	Now that the super hair head, body and tail are locked into position carefully rotate the fly adding epoxy into any voids around the lead shot or where the super hair is tied in taking care not to intrude on the eye of the hook. Rotate the fly in the vice and cure the epoxy with your UV torch. At the head end of the fly trim the tips of the super hair into a nice natural prawn or shrimp head shape.

M	The final step is to trim the tail of the prawn or shrimp which is above but free from the eye of the hook square. This is a fish eye view of the fly from above. The eyes and the legs will pulse in and out as the fly is retrieved ... fish love it.

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