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Skykomish Sand Shrimp

4K views 13 replies 10 participants last post by  loophitech 
#1 ·
As some of you know, I have mentioned the plague of drunken jet boaters flicking sand shrimp at Steelhead on the Sky. I have recieved reports of some guys who have found sand shrimp pieces in their guts. So here is my answer. EC 413 Jig Hook in case you were curious. I know it is extreme and takes time, but what the hell.
 

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#2 ·
That should work just fine, if anything , too good. Now pound that baby out 100 feet or so, and let her swing !!!!!!!!! Saw some fish hooked by my buddy on the Sky yesterday, no hook ups for me though. Nice fly.

local
 
#6 ·
Awesome!

What are you using for shell back?

Are you burning the eyes with a cauterizing tool and 50# mono? Tried to do mine with a lighter, didn't work too well. Down here we have mud shrimp and ghost shrimp in the bays, I've been thinking of doing a shrimp pattern like that with slightly different color themes. Very cool man!
 
#9 · (Edited)
Thanks everyone. I'm hitting the Sky with these in the AM. They better swim right side up. Been working on this for two damn years.

Sand Shrimp

Tail-white rabbit strip, fl. cerise bucktail and pink lady Amherst tail.
Eyes-Dark metal bead glued to 50# mono. 5 minute epoxy and I just melt the end so that the bead wont come off. Epoxy holds it in place
Body segments-New age chenille white pearl twisted with opal white estaz then tie in a small bunch of pink Amherst. Scud back pink over the top for a shell back. The middle section is yelow because sand shrimp look like that then it’s back to pink.
Tail-new age chenille again wrapped with pink schlappen dotted with black permanent marker.

Shrimp

Tail-crawfish orange rabbit strip, orange bucktail and orange lady Amherst tail.
Eyes-Dark metal bead glued to 50# mono.
Body segments-New age chenille amberstone, then a couple wraps of glimmer body or polar chenille and a wrap of orange Hackle Flash. This to make it bush out and then tie in a small bunch of orange Amherst. Scud back orange over the top for a shell back. Repeat two more times until you get back to the eye of the shank.
Tail-new age chenille again wrapped with orange schlappen dotted with black permanent marker.

Making the hook

Eagle Claw 413 Jig Hook. (I use these little bolt cutter looking things. Will cut any hook)Clip the hook off the back and tie into the shank like it is pictured with Kevlar thread and super glue. It is strong enough to file down the cut parts of the metal, but do that before you tie in or it may cut the thread. The tail is strong but it doesn’t have to be, it just has to hold material. I wrap lead around the curve of the tail to keep it in the swimming position. I use a Gamakatsu Octopus hook in the rabbit. I weave gel spun line into the hide, loop in a hook and then sew the hook eye into the hide. It gets deep so the hook needs to ride point up and stay that way.
 
#13 ·
Oh man did they swim great. Also, I don’t know how I did it but one was tied on the right side and one was tied on the left side of the shank. The Hook point is dead center so it off sets it just a tad. Well guess what. It turns out that one is perfect for right bank fishing (which is what I was doing) and it gave the best sideways view to the fish. The other one, when fished left bank, gives the best sideways view. I could not believe it. Also, I tried a little stripping action as if I was in the salt and the drop then dart up action looked freaking great. Looked just like a shrimp swims. I fished too deep on purpose during the swing. I was hitting sticks and rocks and never had one snag partly because the tail keeps it off the snag and the hook point rides up. Don’t know about it catching fish though. When I got into my favorite hole two gear guys were dredging it with their crap. I waited until they were through and fished anyway.

I can stop tying one fly at a time now. This pattern has got me hooked. I’m going to tie several hooks up at one time then tie on the material. I’ll try different color patterns and sizes now. I wont need to change the frame work at all or add weight. I can't believe it does want I want it to. I have thrown maybe fifty flops in the garbage over the last year. Very cool stuff.
 
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