Published Jan 15. 2013 - 10 years ago
Updated or edited Jan 15. 2017

Tight Line Shrimp

A go to shrimp fly for tailing redfish from Laguna Madre based fly fisherman Roy Lopez. Easy to tie and perfect for the reds as well as a bunch of other species.

Redfish flies
Shrimp flies
Tropical
Roy Lopez
A bunch - It\'s easy to vary the basic color of the Tight Line Shrimp by simply changing material colors.
Tight Line Shrimps
Roy Lopez

Shrimp seem to be the stock food of a whole row of fish from cold water sea trout to the fish of the warm and tropical realms like the redfish of Texas and the bonefish of the Caribbean.
This fly is designed to look like the real thing, but also have enough color and flash to attract attention though slightly murky water. It's light and fluffy, and will land gently. But its lightness also means that it's not a plunger, and it will no sink swiftly in deeper water, so I prefer using it in the shallows, particularly for tailing redfish on the flats.

Tight Line Shrimp
Pattern type: 
Warm saltwater fly
Originator: 
Roy Lopez
Materials: 
Hook
#4,6,8 Mustad 34007
Thread
Orange 140 denier
Tail (shrimp tentacles)
Pink bucktail, brown bucktail, pink flash
Dubbing
Orange opossum or similar
Antennae
Moose mane
Eyes
Burnt 40 lbs mono
Body
Pink Wapsi Wing N´Flash (Alternative Angel Hair, SLF hanks)
Skill level/difficulty: 
Easy
Instruction: 
  1. First start a thread base just before the bend of the hook .
  2. Then cut a piece of pink bucktail about a half inch in length from the very top of the hide. It's the top part that is the finest.
  3. Then from the center of the bucktail cut a half inch of brown deer hair to form the thorn of the shrimp.
  4. Next I like to dub about 3 inches of thread with orange fine cut opossum fur and form a small bump.
  5. Tie in a couple of moose mane hairs as antennae. They can be quite long.
  6. Next cut a piece of mono about an inch long an with a lighter burn the tips to form eyes . The length of the mono should then be about half an inch once both sides are burned.
  7. Next lay the eyes diagonally across he hook and cinch it down by warping it in a figure eight pattern.
  8. Next you create a dubbing loop about 2 to 3 inches long and run your bobbin to the eye of the hook.
  9. Grab your Wing N'Flash and cut 2" lengths and spread it evenly through your dubbing loop.
  10. Once it is spread twist the loop locking the Wing N'Flash in.
  11. Lastly palmer the dubbing forward and tie off at the eye of the hook.
  12. I like to grab a bodkin and pick away the entangled pieces of wing and flash. This will give it a full body.

Crabs and shrimps - A bunch of Gold Mine Crabs and a couple of Tight Line Shrimps ready for some action!
Crabs and shrimps gff
Roy Lopez
Step 1: Tail
Roy Lopez
Step 2: Thorn, dubbing
Step 3: Antennae
Roy Lopez
Step 4: Eyes
Step 5: Eyes, dubbing loop
Step 6: Flash
Roy Lopez
Step 7: In the loop
Step 8: Twist loop
Roy Lopez
Step 9: Wrap the dubbing
Roy Lopez
Redfish - The Tight Line Shrimp is tied for redfish
Redfish
Roy Lopez
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