The "Shrimp Sucker"
I live about 30 miles from some very high concentrations of saltwater shrimp. Unfortunately the shrimp are the miniscule brine shrimp and the Great Salt Lake doesn't hold any fish to speak of. Nonetheless, when I got asked to participate in a saltwater fly pattern swap a couple of years ago, I decided a good shrimp pattern would be the way to go. As I usually do, I like to refer to actual images of the bug/fish/thing I'm trying to imitate. In this case, it was a species of shrimp in the Caribbean I decided would be a good bonefish pattern. So I dug through a bunch of materials and came up with what I thought would be a good translucent and representative imitation.
Because I'm a fair jaunt from any bonefish, I had to rely on the reports from fly swappers that got a chance to fish the pattern. All reports came back very positive and I had requests to do a video. Well, I finally got around to it.
So it's nothing fancy, but it gets the job done (or so I'm told). Just be aware that the image above shows the pattern with a slightly different hook than what's shown in the video. Either hook will work, so it's up to you which you choose and what sizes you'd like to tie. The ones shown above are a lighter hook with a smaller barbell eye and would have a slower sink rate than the version in the video. Just wanted to show both versions...
Hook: Do-It Molds Wacky Jig hook #6 to #2/0 or Daiichi 1160 #8
Tail-Eyes: Barbell eyes, 3mm to 4mm (vary size depending on desired sink rate)
Thread: UTC GSP 100 Tan
Mono-Eyes: 30 to 50lb monofilament burned and colored
Hot-Spot: Fly Tyer's Dungeon Water Silk, Flr Orange
Antenna Etc: FTD Glass Web, tan. Orange Crystal Flash, MFC Barred Yellow Centipede legs, Black Crystal Flash
Body: Yellow UV Chewee Skin and Cascade Crest Tools Gold Hackle Flash gold.
Tail Fan: FTD Glass Web, Tan