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Ally’s Shrimp and the Cascade Shrimp, devised by Ally
Gowans, are two of the most successful salmon flies to come out of Scotland
in recent years. Over the past couple of decades, many salmon fly tyers
have adopted Ally’s style to create countless variations on his
theme. It might be said that Ally’s patterns have led to a whole new
style of salmon fly, which I will refer to as “Scottish Shrimps”.
The essential features of this style of salmon fly, as illustrated
in the example below, are:
·
A
long tail or lower wing, usually of mixed coloured hair
·
A
shorter upper wing, usually in a darker colour than the tail
·
A
collar hackle made up of one or two coloured hackles
Scottish Shrimps can be dressed on single, double
or treble hooks, or on the wide range of tubes now available to the
salmon fly tyer.
The "Scottish Shrimp" style is very adaptable and
even a single change of colour in any of the component parts of the
dressing can alter the appearance of the fly dramatically, enabling
the fly tyer to dress a range of flies, in various sizes, weights
and colours, to suit the varying conditions of water and weather he
is likely to meet throughout the season. Ally’s flies were generally
dressed with a two part body dressing, e.g. silver and black in the
case of the Cascade or red and black on his Ally’s Shrimp. The
Scottish Shrimps shown below have been dressed on slim stainless steel needle
tubes, making a body dressing, to my mind, unnecessary and thus
greatly simplifying the dressing. The fly used in the step by step
illustration came about by chance. On a recent walk with the dog
along the banks of the Spey, I disturbed a buzzard at his lunch of
red squirrel. Thinking that he would have little use for the fine
brown tail, I stole it and made use of it in this pattern, which I
have called the Spey Shrimp, and in several of the following other
Scottish Shrimp patterns.
The Spey Shrimp
Materials
Tube: 15 mm needle tube
Tail/Underwing: orange over
yellow fox squirrel tail with a
few strands of pearl Krystal Flash over
Wing: red squirrel tail (or
other fine brown hair)
Hackle: yellow cock hackle
Note: Arctic fox hair, or other fine
hair may be used in place of the squirrel.
Tying the Spey Shrimp Needle Tube Fly
Step 1: Secure needle tube in needle
tube vice and lay a short bed of black
thread
Step 2: Tie in a bunch of yellow hair
Step 3: Tie in a bunch of orange hair then a few strands of Krystal
Flash on top
Step 4: Tie in a shorter bunch of
brown squirrel hair
Step 5: Tie in two or three turns of a yellow cock hackle
Step 6: Pull hackle back to desired
angle and form a neat head
Step 7: Finish with two or three
coats of Cellire No. 1 varnish
Step 9: Add a link of clear PVC or silicone tubing and a hook of
choice
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