One of the best steelhead flies for the Pacific Coast and the Northwest, in both winter and summer fishing, has been the pattern known as the Orange Shrimp. There are quite a few variations of the pattern. With the advent of the new type of dyes this fly is now very commonly tied with fluorescent chenille instead of the older, less brilliantly colored wool. Both patterns are given at the end of this lesson. We shall tie the fly in order to become acquainted with the appearance of the body and the way it is tied, and to learn about the use of hair wings.

I think it is a good idea, when instructing beginners in the tying of flies, to provide as much information as possible about the method, or technique, of tying; and to set it out as simply as possible. If the instructor can eliminate the doubts which a beginner has as to how a particular tying process is performed, the beginner can soon learn to tie excellent flies; and it is not too important that his first few flies are not models of perfection. What really counts is your ability to understand how the steps are performed. With such an understanding and practice in tying, your improvement in the handling of materials will be rapid and will be rewarded by better and better appearance of the flies you tie. A person naturally takes pride in his own work. And, in the tying of flies there is, actually, a double reward: the satisfaction of making a finished fly, and an increased pleasure in fishing with flies of your own making.

For this fly you should use a No. 4 hook, 2X strong. This type of hook is used in steelhead fishing because it is much stronger than the average hook. The hooks used by steelhead fishermen vary in size from No. 2/0 to No. 6.

With the No. 4 Sproat hook I suggest that you use 00 black tying silk, to provide greater strength for attaching the materials to the larger size of hook.

Cut off about 6 or 8 inches of gold tinsel, medium width, for the tip of this fly. I am rather fussy about the tinsel I use in tying this fly, and I prefer embossed, rather than, plain tinsel. I believe that the uneven surface of embossed tinsel is more attractive to the fish than is the plain tinsel. Tie the tinsel on at the bend of the hook. Leave the tying silk attached at this spot. Wrap the tinsel, in clockwise spirals, down over the bend of the hook, one turn next to the other, for about 3 or 4 turns; then cross back over and wrap the tinsel in spirals back to the point where the tying silk is attached. Tie off the tinsel at this point, and cut off the unused portion of tinsel. This will give about ¼ inch of tinsel at the bend of the hook.

Next, take 6 or 8 fibres of dyed red hackle, making sure that the fibres you select are long enough for this fly, which is quite a bit larger than the ones you have been tying in the previous lessons. The tail of the fly should extend out from the bend of the hook not less than 2/3rds of the length of the shank of the hook and not more than the full length of the shank Do not make the tail any longer than this. Check the fibres for length and tie them on at the bend of the hook. Make 3 or 4 turns with the tying silk and complete the tie with a half-hitch.

Next, for the body of the fly, cut off 12 or 14 inches of single strand hot orange, or reddish orange, wool. The single strand wool is a long-fibre wool and it is much better than the heavier wool which has short fibres. Double the wool, making your body material 6 or 7 inches in length. Wrap the tying silk around the shank of the hook, in spirals, making 3 or 4 turns to the center of the hook. Tie the orange wool on the hook at this point. Wrap the tying silk, in spirals, around the shank to the point 1/4 inch from the eye of the hook and half-hitch it there.

Grasp the two strands of orange wool and wrap the wool in spirals back to the bend of the hook. Make 3 or 4 turns around the shank as you wrap the wool, so that the strands will lie quite close together. Now, continue wrapping the wool, going in spirals toward the eye of the hook but stop-ing at the point which is 3/8ths of an inch from the eye of the hook. Then, wrap the wool back over the wool you have just put on, toward the bend of the hook, but stopping this time 1/8th or 3/l6ths of an inch short of the base of the tail. Then spiral the wool forward over all of the previous wraps to the point where the tying silk is attached. You have been building up the body of this fly so that it will be quite thick at the center and tapered thin at the tail and at the point where the tying silk is attached. If the body of the fly is fairly even, in other words, if the diameter is about the same at the front, center and back, the body is not properly wrapped. The body of this fly should be similar in shape to a tapered cigar, with the fat or thick portion in the center. When the body is this shape cross the tying silk over the two strands of wool, make 3 or 4 turns and a half-hitch, and cut off the unused portion of the wool.

For the hackle of this fly select a fairly long hot orange, or reddish-orange, saddle hackle feather. Strip off the web and all of the fuzzy fibres at the base of the hackle feather. Cut off the quill of the feather 1/4 inch below the lowest of the clean fibres you have left on the quill. Place the hackle on the hook with the longest fibres at the point where the tying silk is attached. Wrap the tying silk over the quill and around the shank of the hook. Make 3 or 4 turns of silk around the quill and the shank of the hook, and then a half-hitch. Grasp the tip of the hackle and wrap it around the hook 5 turns, placing each turn on top of the previous one, tying the hackle wet. The fibres will spread out; do not worry about them matting. Always make just 5 turns, wrapping at the same place. Then, bring the tip of the hackle feather forward and cross over the quill of this tip with the tying silk; wrap 4 or 5 turns and make a half-hitch. Cut off the unused tip of the hackle feather.

The next step is to put on the wing, which on this fly is made of hairs from the tail of a buck deer. The tail of a Whitetail deer is best.

Turn the bucktail over to the white portion of the tail. Take told of a bunch of the white hairs and cut them off at the base, as close to the skin as possible. After cutting the hair from the tail, hold it in the fingers of your left hand. If you look at the hair you will see that some of the hairs are long, some are about 2/3rds the length of the longer hairs, and some are even shorter. When the wing is ready to tie on the fly it should be the full length of the fly, and you do not want any of the short hairs in the wing. Now, grasp the bunch of hairs between the thumb and forefingers of your right hand, taking hold of them at the base, or butt ends, of the hairs. With the thumb and forefinger of your left hand take hold of the tips of the longer hairs, hold them very tightly; then pull with the thumb and forefinger of your right hand, away from the left hand. The right hand will be holding the base of the hairs, the left hand holding the tips. When you pull the right hand away from your left hand you will leave the longer hairs held between the finger of your left hand and draw out, between the fingers of your right hand, the shorter hairs, which vary in length up to 2/3rds of the length of those held in your left hand. If you wish to increase the size of the wing and use more of the hairs than you now have in your left hand, you can lay the tip ends of the hairs held in your left hand underneath the tip ends of the hairs held in your right hand and, again grasp the tip ends firmly between the thumb and forefinger of your left hand; once again pull your right hand away from your left hand and you will have, in your left hand, approximately double the number of hairs you had before. The hairs in your right hand are now much shorter. If you wish, these may be saved for shorter bucktail wings, or they may be thrown away.

Transfer the hairs held in your left hand to your right hand, grasping them between the thumb and forefinger of the right hand at the base of the hairs. Place the hairs on top of the shank of the hook, to measure the wing for length. The wing should not extend beyond the tip of the tail of the fly. I suggest that the wing should be no longer than this because this length permits more action of the wing and prevents any portion of the wing from crawling under the bend of the hook and spinning the fly in the water. When you have determined the proper placement to give the right length, transfer the hairs to your left hand. Grasp the bunch of hairs, between the thumb and forefinger of your left hand, close to the base of the hairs. Rub or roll your fingers slightly; this will thin the line of hair quite a bit and will make the wing easier to tie on top of the hook. With the hairs in a thinner line they will not tend to roll as much in the process of tying them on.

Now place the wing on top of the fly, placing the hairs so that the wing will be of proper length. Wrap with the tying silk, with the up and down sweep, between the hook and the fingers of the left hand, up and down 4 or 5 turns, tightly sealing down all of the hairs so that they will not come loose. Then make a half-hitch with the tying silk. Make 3 or 4 more wraps around the spot where you have tied the wing and another half-hitch. This will hold the wing on very tightly and keep it from coming out of the fly.

Lift the hair wing up with your right hand. Wrap the tying silk over the hook in back of the wing and along its base; then make a complete turn around the base of the wing with the tying silk, and 2 or 3 turns around the shank, ending the wrap with a half-hitch. No doubt you have noticed, before you made the loop around the base of the hair wing, that the wing had spread quite a bit; and you were not very pleased, in fact you probably thought that it was very sloppy. But after winding the tying silk around the base of the wing it is placed back in the correct position. Next, cut off the base of the hairs which extend out over the head of the fly. To cut off these hairs grasp them between thumb and forefinger of your left hand, bring the hairs up to a vertical position and snip them off with your scissors. Cut them off close to the tying silk. After the hairs are cut off you will notice that by cutting them off in this manner the remaining stubs are tapered a little from the base of the wing to the eye of the fly, which will eliminate any lumps or bumps on the head of the fly when it is tapered.

Taper the head of the fly carefully. Make a half-hitch and whip finish. Cut off the remainder of the tying silk. Lacquer the head of the fly well, as you want the lacquer to sink into the base of the hair wing.

If you will refer to the alternate pattern at the end of this lesson, you will notice that different materials are used for the body and wing. Red, or hot orange, as it may be called, fluorescent chenille is the body material. Tie on the chenille one turn next to the other, making a very full body. White polar bear hair is used for the wing. This is placed on the fly in the same way as the bucktail. Make the circle around the base of the polar bear wing just as you did around the bucktail wing. Polar bear hair is very firm and it makes a hard and solid wing which will slip unless it is tied very tightly. With the circle of tying silk around the base of the wing there is less chance, however, of the wing slipping.

This alternate pattern, which is know as the Polar Shrimp, is a very good pattern for searun cutthroat and summer steelhead. The chenille is water absorbent. The polar bear, being of solid or hard hair, tends to go under the surface of the water much quicker than the bucktail wing.

ORANGE SHRIMP (Wet)

Hook:               No. 1/0 - No. 6, 2X strong
Tip:                  Gold tinsel, medium
Tail:                  Red hackle fibres, 6-8
Body:               Hot orange wool, full body
Hackle:             Hot orange saddle hackle, tied wet
Wing:               White bucktail

POLAR SHRIMP (Wet)

Hook:               No. 1/0 - No. 6, 2X strong
Tip:                  Gold tinsel, medium
Tail:                  Red hackle fibres, 6-8
Body:               Hot orange fluorescent chenille
Hackle:             Hot orange saddle hackle, tied wet
Wing:               White polar bear hair

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