A How to Tie a Yelly Belly Shrimp Fly
by John Gray
Yelly Belly Shrimp Tube Fly
The fly shown above is a Yelly Belly Shrimp Fly, a pattern dressed in
the Scottish Shrimp style on a Needle Tube. Scottish Shrimps may be
dressed on hooks or tubes. Here the fly is dressed on a very slim needle
tube, 10mm length and 1.5 mm diameter. It is very simple tied,
requiring no body dressing, as the stainless steel needle tube is left
undressed to give a simple silver body. The colours may be varied
according to taste and the size may be varied according to season and
circumstance.
Illustrated below is the simple tying sequence for the Yelly Belly
Shrimp Tube Fly. The method may be adapted to any number of patterns and
colours. I tie my Scottish Shrimp tube flies according to a simple
formula, comprising a few essential components as follows:
Scottish Shrimp Tube Fly Features
1. A tail of between 1.5 and 2 inches, made using one
or two colours of hair, usually bucktail but other hair such as squirrel
or fox may be used. Strands of flash may be added if desired.
2. A hair wing of complementary or contrasting colour, extending to
two thirds of the length of the tail.
3. A sparse underwing/belly, complementing the tail colours, again
extending to two thirds the length of the tail.
4. A single hackle, or double hackle comprising two colours.
The colour of each component part, and the bulk/density of the
dressing, may be varied to create a wide
variety of Scottish Shrimp Tube Flies, some examples of which are
illustrated on the right of this page.
NOTE: Generally the body of the stainless steel tube is not
dressed and all materials (tail, wing and hackles) are tied in at the
head of the fly, allowing maximum mobility of materials. This also
simplifies the tying of the tube fly.
A Pair of Scottish Shrimps
Dressing the Yelly Belly Shrimp Tube Fly
Dressing
Tube: 10mm Stainless Steel Needle Tube
Tail: Orange and yellow bucktail with 2 strands
of olive Krystal Flash
Wing: Olive bucktail two thirds the length of
the tail
Underwing: A few strands of hair matching the
tail, two thirds the length of the tail
Hackle: Sunburst Rooster
1. Tie in tail of bucktail with 2 strands of olive
Krystal Flash
2. Tie in a wing of olive bucktail, two thirds the
length of the tail
3. Tie in a sparse underwing matching the tail, two
thirds the length of the tail
4. Tie in a single or double hackle, here a sunburst
rooster hackle
The Yelly Belly Scottish Shrimp Needle Tube Fly
Yelly Belly Scottish Shrimp Variants
This first variant above has an added orange hackle over the sunburst.
The second variant above has an added olive/brown hackle over the
sunburst.
A Trio of Yelly Belly Shrimps
The tube fly may be armed with a single, double or treble
hook, attached via a flexible silicone hook-link or free-swinging with a
heat-shrink knot guard
How to make a knot guard (or swing tube) for a Free Swinging Tube
Fly Hook
For more information on Grays Needle Tubes see:
Trout
and Salmon Flies |
