Published Jan 15. 2013 - 5 years ago
Updated or edited Jan 15. 2017

Tight Line Shrimp

Redfish flies
Shrimp flies
Tropical

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.

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)
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
Sections: 
Patterns
Article gallery
.

Log in or register to pre-fill name on comments, add videos, user pictures and more.
Read more about why you should register.
 

Related content

Based on these keywords | Redfish flies | Shrimp flies | Tropical |
Article

Sam-I-Am

I do not like bright shrimp flies. I do not like them Sam-I-Am. I would not like them here or there. I would not like them anywhere. Or maybe I would...?
Article

Meko Special

Omeko Glinton created the Meko Special in an attempt to come up with a single fly that you can fish over any color bottom so you don’t have to waste time changing flies as you move from flat to flat.
Article

O'io Boy'o!

The flats of Oahu in Hawai'i, harbor some of the largest bonefish in the world... although, Hawai'i isn't your typical bonefishing destination. Read why, how to do it and what you will catch
Article

Raccoon

Raccoon – or Vaskebjørn – is a highly successful and good looking Norwegian sea trout fly.
Article

Allan Must Shrimp

A small shrimp from the hands of Allan Kuhlman who plays with eyes, shells and legs.
Article

Fly-fishing in the Brazilian Amazon

The Amazon fresh water system, the largest in the world, is home to the Peacock Bass - a hard striking tropical fish.

Since you got this far …

The GFF money box
The GFF money box
Martin Joergensen

… 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.