Deep Water Shrimp
| By Luca Montanari
Tungsten plastic sheets are very suitable for adding weight to flies for deep fishing, in particular Gammarus imitations, which I usually utilise in fast rivers for tempting trout that stay close to the bottom. One of the characteristics of such sheets is elasticity, which allows me to mould them in different shapes. I can also split them up, for example, into thin strands that can be wrapped directly onto the hook shank, or in small tapes that can be tied on the thorax or on the abdomen of the fly. Depending on what use I make of them, sometimes I risk to compromise the resistance of the tapes: this may happen if I finish the fly making the ribbing directly over the small tungsten tape. For this reason, when I decide to build a Deep-Water Shrimp, I place a piece of Magic Shrimp Foil over the back of the fly. This prevents the ribbing to cut the tungsten tape. |
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| Gammarus shrimps can assume various colours in agreement with the species they belong, or depending on the diet they follow or the colours of their habitat. In waters with the bottom covered by vegetation, these small crustaceans often tend to get an olive colour. Therefore, to allure the trout that feed on them, we have to select imitations assembled with greenish and brownish materials.
(The Deep Water Shrimp is one of the 88 flies described in Luca’s recent book entitled “Flies – Mosche da pesca”. To get more information about it click on http://www.edolimpia.it/lev_1/pesca/top_pesca.htm |
Materials List:
Hook: Mustad ref. 80250 size 14 to 6 |
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The building process of the Deep-Water Shrimp is not very complicated and the only difficulty that we can meet is the application of the tungsten and Magic Shrimp Foil stripes on the fly body. However, withpractice, this operation can also be executed in a short time and without too many problems. Photos and fly by Luca Montanari |
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 Step 1: I start tying the fly by fixing the hook in the vice jay and wrap a piece of fine lead along its shank in order to realise part of the ballast structure of the fly. Therefore I tie in the thread on the hook and wrap it around the lead turns to join them very firmly to the hook. |
 Step 2: With the black thread, I add a section of Magic Shrimp Foil and a piece of fine copper wire to a low stretch of the hook bend. |
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 Step 3:I wax a short section of the thread and distribute a small quantity of Partridge SLF Master Class clear orange dyed (MC15) on it, followed by one of light olive (MC14) and finally one of leather colour (MC13), forming a compact and consisting dubbing. After that, I wrap the dubbing around the three rear quarters of the hook shank. |
 Step 4: Using a stretch of pale brown thread, I tie in, on the body rear edge, a piece of a small strip cut from a Partridge grey tungsten sheet, laying it down to cover the back of the nymph. The main function of this material is to increase the weight of the imitation. |
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 Step 5: I push the Magic Shrimp Foil strip forward, placing it to cover the tungsten strip and fix both materials over the portion of the hook without dubbing. |
 Step 6: I make the ribbing by turning the copper wire around the fly body in wide coils. |
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 Step 7: Now I lift up the Magic Shrimp Foil and the tungsten strips from the thread turns and push their front edge backwards, stopping the copper wire in front of the body portion already prepared; then I proceed by trimming away the pale brown thread from the fly body. |
 Step 8: I cut away the surplus of the copper wire, and then I wax a new section of the thread and distribute a small quantity of ear’s mask fur on it, creating the dubbing that I will wrap around the fourth front of the hook shank in order to complete the fly body . |
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 Step 9: I push the tungsten and the Magic Shrimp Foil strips forward, laying them to cover the back of the last body section and then fix them just behind the hook eye. |
 Step 10: I trim away the exceeding part of the materials used to form the back and then I build the fly head with repeated turns of the thread followed by a whip finish. |
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 Step 11: At this point our Deep-Water Shrimp is ready to be used on the next fishing trip, helping us to tempt a beautiful trout that is feeding near the bottom of a deep pool. |
Luca Montanari |
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