Steel Shrimp

Steel Shrimp

Nick Thomas

In a previous article I described how I use metal bead chain to add weight and internal structure to my Chain Worm pattern. The Steel Shrimp uses the same principle, the metal beads forming a skeleton which is covered in dubbing and organza ribbon to form the shrimp’s legs and shell respectively. The colour of the orange thread and the beads mimics the parasitic worm which infects some shrimps and changes their behaviour making them move out of cover into open water, all the better to be eaten by fish and continue the parasitic cycle.

The weight of the chain turns the shrimp so that it fishes on its side or on its back, which is just fine as that’s how Gammarus shrimps actually swim. It’s not a heavyweight like shrimps tied with tungsten shrimp bodies so it’s easy to cast and doesn’t plummet to the bottom. I like to fish it in fairly fast shallow runs where shrimps can get washed out from the gravel and stones.

Shrimp scaffold

Nick Thomas

A sheen of orange

Nick Thomas

Fishing a Steel Shrimp in a fast run

Nick Thomas

A Shrimp eater

Nick Thomas