Red SLF Gammarus

By Luca Montanari

The gammarus are crustaceans that are quite common in many rivers, but the occurrence in a particular river depends on vegetation and level of pollution. These invertebrates spend a good part of their time hidden between the plants and the stones of the river bottom, moving from a pasture zone to another with fast and regular swims. Whenever they move, however, they risk to become the easy target of fish attacks, especially in those periods of the year in which up-wings and sedges make sporadic hatches and prefer to stay well protected in the hiding places of the river. All this makes gammarus-looking flies particularly attractive for trout and grayling, and it should not surprise us that many fly fishing techniques, to be very effective, suggest the use of such imitations.

In the case of the “Polish technique”, for example, in which nymphs well suited for turbulent and fast waters are used, a great majority of anglers prefer to use slim and quite weighted imitations of gammarus. They are often mounted in a number of two or three on a leader with droppers. These artificials can be built with the fur of various animals and furnished with trembling appendixes, or tied with compact dubbing of synthetic fibres, such as the Red SLF Gammarus: a splendid nymph that I learned to build following the dressing that the Norwegian fly tier, Torill Kolbu suggested to me.

	Materials List:
Hooks:	Mustad mod. 80250, sizes 14 to 6
Ballast:	Fine lead wire
Thread:	Red
Body:	In four sections of equal size. The firsts three realised with Partridge SLF Master Class (MC15), (MC20) and (MC18); the fourth prepared with Partridge SLF Master Class (MC27) mixed with hare’s fur e
Back of the body:	Pale brown Magic Shrimp Foil, or latex
Ribbing:	Fine copper wire

Tying instructions:

Step 1:
I start the building process of our fly by clamping the hook into the vice jay and wrap a piece of fine lead around the shank, in order to realise the ballast structure of the fly. Next, I tie in the thread on the hook and wrap it around the lead turns to secure them firmly to the shank.

Step 2:
With the red thread, I tie in a short piece of fine copper wire and a strip of pale brown Magic Shrimp Foil, or latex, fixing both onto the hook bend.

Step 3:
I wax a short section of the thread and distribute a small quantity of clear orange Partridge SLF Master Class (MC15) on it, followed by one of scarlet red (MC20), and finally by one of claret (MC18), forming a compact dubbing. Next I wrap the dubbing around the three rear quarters of the hook shank.

Step 4:
I push the strip of Magic Shrimp Foil forward, placing it in such a way that it covers the body, and then I fix it over the hook portion lacking in dubbing.

Step 5:
I make the ribbing by winding the copper wire around the fly body in wide coils.

Step 6:
Now I make the Magic Shrimp Foil strip free from the thread turns and push its front edge backwards, stopping the copper wire in front of the body portion already prepared.

Step 7:
I cut away the surplus of the copper wire and then wax a new section of the thread, over which we distribute a small quantity of brown Partridge SLF Master Class (MC27) mixed with hare’s mask fur. I compact the dubbing and turn it around the front quarter of the hook shank, in order to finish the fly body.

Step 8:
I push the strip of Magic Shrimp Foil forward, placing it to cover the back of the last body section, and then fix it just behind the hook eye.

Step 9:
I trim away the exceeding part of the material used to form the fly back and then I build the gammarus head with repeated turns of thread followed by a whip finish.

Step 10:
The Red SLF Gammarus can now be used for your next fishing trip, ready to tempt a beautiful trout that is feeding on small crustaceans in the clear water of a river or a lake.

Luca Montanari

Red SLF Gammarus

Fishing

Red SLF Gammarus

Tying instructions: