Opossum Shrimp

Shrimp make an important part of the sea trout's menu. Many times you can observe shrimp in the water - especially over sand bottom, where their almost translucent body only leaves a faint shadow and maybe a small trail of dust as they escape in a jerk.
This pattern tries to catch some of the characteristics of the shrimp: the light transparent body, the segmentation, the almost invisible antennae and the extremely visible black eyes.

1. Cut a narrow strip of bottle lead
2. Cover the middle of the hook shank with the lead
3. Tie in the thread in front of the lead
4. Tie down the lead with open, but tight turns of thread
5. Tie in a monofilament eye on each side of the hook shank over the barb
6. Tie in the ribbing under the eyes pointing toward the hook bend
7. Bend each eye perpendicular to the hook shank
8. Varnish the lead, bas of eyes and bas of ribbing
9. Tie in a tuft of light opossum, guard hairs 1.5-2 times hook length, sticking out between the eyes
10. Leave the butts of opossum and cover with tying thread
11. Taper a narrow strip of latex and tie in over the eyes pointing toward the hook bend
12. Dub a small ball of black dubbing close to the base of the eyes
13. Cover the whole body and the black ball with a layer of opossum dubbing. The dubbing needs to be light and transparent
14. Leave an eye width or two uncovered behind the hook eye
15. Pull the shell over the body and tie down
16. Wind the ribbing over the body and shell and tie down under the hook shank
17. Tie in a small bunch of wood duck fibers as a false hackle under the hook shank, almost reaching the hook point
18. Use the butts of the wood duck to make a short, fanned tail fin over the hook eye
19. Finish the fly between the tail fin and the shell with a whip finish and varnish