{{+1}}Tidal flats shrimp – orange and brown{{-1}}

This fly is basically my original mud prawn that I released in 2003 and have now miniaturised and modified.

This orange and brown size #2 hook version of my tidal flats shrimp is my first choice of fly when targeting feeding trigger fish. It stands out in the storm of mud and other debris that trigger fish stir up as they forage around for food.

The best tactic for trigger fish is:

Find a feeding fish. This is generally the easy part because you will see their big tail out of the water as they poke their nose around in the shallows looking for food or in slightly deeper water look for what I call a mud storm as they forage around.
Whilst the fish is full on feeding and distracted cast the fly about a meter or so away from the fish in the direction it is travelling.
Let the fly sink and make sure you have direct contact. if you lucky you will feel the fish poking around the fly, don't strike.
Lift the rod only when you can actually feel some weight ... don't strike too early
These are very strong fish and very dirty fighters so it's a delicate balance between keeping them under your control and breaking them off.

Materials

Hook	Weight	Thread	Mouth parts	Flash	Head	Eyes	Feelers	Body	Legs
Mustard 34007 SS #2 to #6	4mmm lead split shot	Kevlar natural 200	Orange SLF	Orange Hends spectre dubbing #02	Orange SLF	Plastic haberdashery beads	Orange & black barred silicon legs	Brown super hair with a few strands of Pearl Tiewell Krystalflash	Orange & black barred silicon legs

Process

A	Solder a lead shot to the hook shank. The shot should be positioned the diameter of the lead shot back from the eye of the hook. Adding weight to a fly Soldering a lead shot to a hook shank Starting behind the lead shot wind the thread to directly below the point of the hook. Understanding hooks

B	Tie a small tuft of Synthetic Living Fibre (SLF) with the tips extending beyond the hook a distance equal to one and a half times the gape on the hook.

C	Tie in a small bunch of spectre dubbing on top of the SLF with the tips extending beyond the hook a distance equal to one and a half times the gape on the hook. Dub the area between the tie in of the SLF mouth parts and krystal flash with a little SLF.

D	Take a length of plastic bead chain and with the tips of your pliers squeeze of the second, third, fourth and fifth beads. Tie the bead chain eyes in directly behind the lead shot using two opoosite figure of eight wraps of thread. Note that I have painted the beads that are going to be left as the eyes red with nail polish.

E	Position the bead chain eyes so that they slope back at around 45% and are slightly separated. Put a drop of UV epoxy on the tie in of the bead chain eyes at this stage and hold them in position whilst the UV epoxy is cured.

F	Trim away the excess plastic bead chain. 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.

G	Cut the fold in the silicon legs and take the two loose ends back down between the eyes and on top of the first two feelers tied in during the previous step. Lock all 4 feelers in with a couple of firm wraps of thread. 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. Tie in a bed of thread on the remaining front shank of the hook.	<

H	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. Take the thread under the butt end and take enough wraps of thread at the eye of the hook to ensure that the tail stand proud of the eye of the hook. Trim away the butt end of the super hair so that it just covers the hook and 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.

I	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. Legs on flies 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.