Straw Shrimps

The forums are very quiet

The Global FlyFisher forum has existed for almost as long as the site, and the oldest posts are more than 20 years old. Forums aren't what they used to be. Social media has taken over a lot of their roles, and the GFF form is very quiet ... to put it mildly.
We keep everything online for the sake of history, and preserve the posts for as long as possible, but as you will see, quite a few of them aren't in a good shape, but rely on old images hosted elsewhere, which are no longer available, odd codes from old systems and much more, which can't be shown in a decent way.
But the posts are here, and you can - if you insist - start new threads. But don't stay awake waiting for replies, because they are unfortunately few and far apart.
Martin

Fly tying - Tie Better

I have the Denmark bug very bad now, even though my trip is 5 months away!

Having searched every inch of the site, i have come across some brilliant shrimp patterns, most of them being very imitative.

I am not the best of tyers, infact i am pretty much self-taught, and really i am in the novice class, so some patterns are out of my league.

In an attempt to come up with an easy to tie shrimp pattern, i decided to use the 'bendy' part of a transulcent drinking straw to use as the shrimps back. This is easily coloured with pens. The shrimp below is a tan/natural colour, but im sure that all colours could be considered, especially as i have lots of orange and pink straws!

I might reverse the tying next time, and have the head at the bend?

I would be interested in your thoughts as how to improve the head section of the fly. I was thinking of adding some paint brush bristles as long feelers? A small natural paint brush is a great way of substititing boar bristle, and they are very cheap.

Hoppy

Hi Hoppy,

Fantastic pattern!
Stick with them. Don't use any other pattern..!

I use shrimps about 90% of the time. They are a sure winner.
Tie them off on hook sizes 8 and 6. Singles of course!

I have seen a straw shrimp sometime ago, can't remember where. May of been Paul Arden at Sexyloops...?

Remember: what sea trout eat? SHRIMPS, ragworm, sand ticks and small fry.

RD

Hi Hoppy,

your shrimp is fantastic! Don’t stop trying, I thing you have a fine hand for tying and we will see some more nice patterns from you.

In my opinion the head of your shrimp is at the right place, looking forward and swims right. One of my first flies 5 years ago was a shrimp to catch some seatrout in german and scandinavian saltwater.

I wanted a nearly natural shrimp and fish the shrimp mostly. Maybe it helps you seeing a “forward swimming shrimp” to create your own stil.

And don’t forget the “Honey Shrimp” on GFF.

Hi Hoppy,

Fantastic pattern!
Stick with them. Don't use any other pattern..!

I use shrimps about 90% of the time. They are a sure winner.
Tie them off on hook sizes 8 and 6. Singles of course!

I have seen a straw shrimp sometime ago, can't remember where. May of been Paul Arden at Sexyloops...?

Remember: what sea trout eat? SHRIMPS, ragworm, sand ticks and small fry.

RD

Hi Hoppy,

your shrimp is fantastic! Don’t stop trying, I thing you have a fine hand for tying and we will see some more nice patterns from you.

In my opinion the head of your shrimp is at the right place, looking forward and swims right. One of my first flies 5 years ago was a shrimp to catch some seatrout in german and scandinavian saltwater.

I wanted a nearly natural shrimp and fish the shrimp mostly. Maybe it helps you seeing a “forward swimming shrimp” to create your own stil.

And don’t forget the “Honey Shrimp” on GFF.

Since you got this far …


The GFF money box

… I have a small favor to ask.

Long story short

Support the Global FlyFisher through several different channels, including PayPal.

Long story longer

The Global FlyFisher has been online since the mid-90's and has been free to access for everybody since day one – and will stay free for as long as I run it.
But that doesn't mean that it's free to run.
It costs money to drive a large site like this.
See more details about what you can do to help in this blog post.

The Global FlyFisher was updated to a new publishing system early March 2025, and there may still be a few glitches while the last bits get fixed. If you meet anything that doesn't work, please let me know.
Martin - martin@globalflyfisher.com