How do you keep your heads so neat and tidy?

It's been a while since I last updated this blog.

I've been quite busy recently and didn't really have a lot of time. I didn't fish much last season either and my clay shooting is now down to once a month so not a lot the write about there either. 

I hadn't tied a lot of flies either. I had lost the bug there for a while but I recently decided to put a box of Irish Shrimps together and I'm tying a couple of flies for it every day now and it's nice to be back at the vice again. 

I've posted a few of Shrimps online and one question that seems to come up quite regularly is, "How do you keep your heads so small?". 

I don't honestly remember setting out to tie smaller heads. It just seemed to happen as I got better at tying flies over time. I probably caught as many salmon on flies with heads like rugby balls than I have on my neater heads now but, I must admit, they are better on the eye than those flies with a rugby ball behind the eye of the hook.

I'm always looking to improve my tying as much as I possibly can. Even today I'm trying different little ideas and techniques to improve on things where I feel I'm not quite doing things right. 

It's one of the things that I love about fly Tying. There is always something to try to improve things. Always trying things. Sometimes failing. Sometimes achieving small areas that allow you to improve your skills. Always challenging yourself to be better.

One issue I always had with my tying was not leaving enough room for a head. I'd finish a fly and barely have room to be able to get my leader through the eye. The thread was so far up the eye that it completely ruined to look of the overall fly.

From reading many threads and posts online, and following plenty of step by steps, I learned that leaving an area of the shank, behind the eye of the hook, completely clear helped in keeping the thread away from the eye. This also contributed to keeping heads smaller for me too.

A small, neater, head has just become part of my overall tying. This comes from using the least amount of turns of thread as possible adding and tying off materials. 

I think it was Ally Gowans that said in his video of him tying his most famous shrimp, that "...fly tiers can't count past three". It is something I took on board and it has certainly helped in my overall tying. 

It is quite difficult to explain so as I was tying a fly for the box yesterday, I thought I'd take photos of every step of the process.

These photos are not the best of quality. They are straight off my phone but hopefully they'll be clear enough that you'll get the gist of what I'm trying to get across. 

First things first, put a hook in the fish and wind on your thread

Notice that there is a section of the shank left clear behind the eye of the hook and the start of the tying thread. I'll try to leave that clear for as long as possible for the head. 

I now tie in my tag material at this point

Now wind thread in touching turns right back to the bends of the hook. This will both leave a good secure tag and a nice level base for the body of the fly 

This is now the first time that I'll count to three. I'll wind my thread forwards again, towards the eye, for three turns. 

The distance between where the thread is now and the oval tinsel is exactly the length that my tag will be. So go ahead and wind the oval tinsel forward in touching turns. 

Three turns of thread, in touching turns forward towards the eye is all that is required to hold the tag in place for the minute. It will be secured firmly in later steps. You can go ahead now and cut the oval tinsel. I'll leave it the length of the red thread base. This will firmly secure the tinsel and help with leaving an even base. 

So that is your tag in place. Now I will set about adding my tail. As is is an Irish shrimp pattern, I'll be using a Golden Pheasant red breast feather. 

I'll go into a bit of detail here about selecting a feather and preparing it for tying in. Feel free to skip on down the page until the tying starts again. 

I personally don't like a very long tail on my shrimps. The length of the hook or just slightly longer is perfect. 

One way to decide which feather to use is simply to put the feather beside the hook and check the distance from the stem of the feather to the tips of the feather fibres. 

I've tied so many of these now that I can usually tell if a feather is long enough just by looking at it. It does no harm to check though. 

Now it's time to  prepare this feather for tying in. 

Start by pulling the fibres down towards the base of the stalk. 

These feathers are set of strung feathers and the stalks are quite short. In this case I'll have to use my hackle pliers to hold the stalk 

I'll now attempt to double the hackle. Doubling the hackle, any hackle, is such an important thing to learn. It just makes winding hackles on so much easier. 

The pictures of the doubling process aren't great. I had no way of holding the pliers in on hand, hackle tip in the other, try to double the hackle and take a picture at the same time. But, I will try to explain the process. 

Hold the hackle pliers, or just the stalk of the feather if they're long enough, in your left hand. Grab the tip of the feather with the thumb and forefinger of your right and draw the fibres through the fingers of your right hand, the one holding the pliers. 

Just to give some indication of what I mean. I should be holding the tip above with my right fingers while stroking the fibres back and down with the fingers of my left hand. 

If you've managed it, your feather should now look like the above. 

Now we will get to actually tying it in. 

Line the tip of the feather up with top of the shank. Look closely at the above photo. Zoom in if you have to. Note the the first fibres of the hackle are lined up with end of the tag and there is a small gap, the three turns are currently holding the tag in place, between the tag and the thread. 

Now wind the thread for those three turns back towards the tag. 

Pull the tip of the hackle back over on itself 

Then wind the three turns forward again towards the eye. That gap you have just left between the tag and the thread is the distance that winding our tail will cover. 

This is how your tail should now look. 

Now we'll remove the hackle tip as it is no longer needed

And we can now go ahead and wind on the tail. Each turn of the tail should be wound forward in touching turns towards the eye. It does no harm to pull the fibres back towards the tag as you are winding it on. 

Three turns should be more than enough of the hackle. I'll now stop the fibres thst I don't need off the hackle 

Now make three turns of thread forward towards the eye, just to hold the stalk in position. We'll secure it in future steps. 

I now like to pull the hackle stalk up so that it will sit on top of the shank

I usually remove the hook from the vice at this point just to tiby up the tail and make sure I'm happy with it before doing anything else. 

I'll now add my rib material 

And now wind thread forward to the middle of the shank in touching turns securing the tag material, rib and the stalk from the tail securely. This also helps to leave a nice even base for the body. 

You can now cut the waste ends of the stalk, rib and tag. 

This fly will have a floss body. I will now tie in the floss for the rear body. 

Wind the floss in touching turns towards the tail 

And then wind it forward again towards the eye 

Three turns of thread to hold it in place and cut it off roughly the length of the red thread base

Now wind on the rib and hold it in place with three turns of thread and cut it the same length as the base of thread

Now add your middle hackle. In this case yellow. I'll not go into a lot of detail here as this hackle followed is the same process as the tail. 

Hackle is tied in by the tip with three turns of thread, tip folded back and the thread wound forward three turns again. Then the hackle wound forward in touching turns and held in place with three turns of thread. 

Now tie in the rib material 

Wind the thread back towards the middle hackle. You can now cut away any ends of tinsel or anything behind the eye of the hook. 

Now tie in the red floss for the front body just in front of the middle hackle. 

Wind the thread forward again in touching turns towards the eye. Securing the floss in place. 

You can then wind on the floss body. Holding it in place with three turns of thread

Now wind on your rib and again, three turns of thread to hold it in place 

Now add the front hackle in the same way as the tail and mid hackles. 

Three turns of the hackle. Three turns to hold it in place. 

As I no longer have any room to secure the hackle in place by winding forward in touching turns, for the front hackle only, I'll pull the stalk back towards the tail and give three touching turns backwards towards the tail. 

You can now cut off the waste material. 

As you can see, the fly is now almost finished and there's no massive bulge of thread behind the eye and still a fraction of a gap between the thread and the eye. 

We'll now add jungle cock with three turns rearward. 

Now fold the stalks of the Jungle cock eyes backwards and secure in place with three turns of thread forward again towards the eye. And trim off the waste ends of the JC feathers. 

You can whip finish at this point and varnish if you wish. I like to round my heads off slightly so I'll add more turns. 

Now I'll whip finish and varnish. And we have a nicely finished Apache Shrimp

Again, with all my tying and step by steps, I am in no way saying that this is way flies should be tied and everything else is wrong. Absolutely not. I'm merely showing the way that I, personally, am tying my flies at the minute and there might be something in there that someone might find useful. 

The Twelfth Week

The 12th of July. The biggest day of the summer, if not the year, for many in the Unionist and Loyalist communities in Northern Ireland. A day full of tradition that many would say defines their culture.

Many are members of marching bands, whether they be flute bands, accordion bands or pipe bands. We really do have some fine pipe bands locally. Others will don their Orange Sashes and walk behind those bands as part of the various lodges from various parts of the districts as generations have done over the centuries. It is a family day too with maybe three generations of the one family on parade in many of the lodges. 

In recent years, the day has drawn criticism and ridicule from those seeing it as a day of blatant sectarianism and hatred. Especially from those political parties that thrive on that kind of sectarian divisiveness. Stirring the pot to increase tensions when there was no tension there to start with, till they got involved. 

While there is an element of that in the big cities, the country lodges are very different with their halls being a hub for the entire community. With very little round about, the "Orange Halls" hold Bingo nights, music and dances, meet ups with hot meals for the elderly so they can meet up with the people they've grown up with but wouldn't get to see too often if it wasn't for these types of things. From all sections of the community. In many cases, the halls keep the community together. 

The "Twelfth week" was traditionally the start of the "Belfast fortnight". When all the industry and factories in Belfast would give their workers time off to take their families on holiday. The the last week in July and the first week of August was known as the "Derry Fortnight" when those industries in Londonderry would do the same. Those days are long gone.

The 12th and 13th of July are Bank Holidays in Northern Ireland. Many will go to the parades on the 12th then rest up and recover on the 13th. Others will go to their holiday homes or somewhere for those days. Me? I liked to fish.

"The Twelfth Week!“. The number of times I've heard those words in all my years fishing on the Faughan. "You're only wasting your time. The Twelfth Week! There's never fish worth in the Faughan till the Twelfth Week. Wait te ye see". My old shooting buddy, now sadly passed away, always said that, "...there was never any fish worth in the [river] Roe till they heard the big drum in Limavady on the Twelfth morning".

Most of the auld hands around here believed that to be so true that they wouldn't even buy their permits until this week.

While there were salmon and sea trout in river earlier than that, the old hands weren't really used to scracting around for a fish here and a fish there, in the way we are now. They were going to the river to catch fish and as many as the possibly could at that. 

The Twelfth Week always seemed to coincide with the massive grilse runs to the Foyle system.  The nets on the Foyle would be at their busiest and there were still thousands of fish running the rivers. Anglers catching 3, 4 or 5 in day was pretty normal. 10 or more in a day wasn't all that rare either. There were just so many fish.

I was last at a 12th of July Parade in 1996 I think it was. It was in Limavady anyway. My Grandad used to March in the local orange Lodge but after his health deteriorated and he was no longer able to march, I stopped going.

On the morning of the parades, in the village of Claudy, the lodges of the "Claudy District" parade around the village before going to the main parade wherever it was being held. My grandmother liked to see them and my mum and dad would take her to see the parade in Claudy. It just so happened that Claudy is pretty close to the Faughan. So, it soon became my 12th tradition that I'd get a lift with my parents to Claudy and fish the river back to where I lived. It would be a good 6 or 7 miles of river. I'd nearly always hook fish too.

I don't think a season passed that if there was water on the Twelfth Week, I got fish. Usually my first fish of the season at that.

15th July 2021

16th July 2021

I remember one of those years fishing down from Claudy, I hooked 4 grilse on the fly. 

Even after my grandparents passed away and my own parents stopped going to the parades, I still got fish if there was water. I can jump back through the pictures on my phone now and guarantee there would be photos of fish from this week from the past.

A grilse caught on 12th July 2019

Last year, and this year, we're in the middle of a long dry spell. I went to the river last night, just out of my Twelfth tradition, but it was extremely low. Many of the pools are so low now that they are almost incapable of holding fish. 

What flow there is, has completely changed in direction. In one pool in the past, the water came down the 'stream' at the neck of the pool. The river then took a slight right turn as the water hit the rocky left bank. The current then was forced across the pool the left bank where the force of water had gauged out a deeper channel.

The fish would lie tight to the left bank in the calm water. You only had to get the fly into the calm water and the current would fish the fly for you. The fish I've had out of that pool over the years, really is incredible. No more sadly.

The water now is so low that there no longer is a stream into the pool. It is now a gentle glade for about 50 - 60 yards. There isn't enough force to push the current across the pool any more. The lack of flow has seen the right side silt up and shallow and the stoney bank now sits clear of the water where I used to have to wade.

Any current now holds tight to left bank, straight through the traditional lies, and the river now empties from the left side. The once deeper right side has now filled in and there is now an island of stones and gravel starting to form at right side of the tail of the pool. It really is a sorry sight. There isn't even a deep pot or belly to the pool any more. It just looks incapable of holding fish. 

The pool above it has changed too with no depth to the neck of it and any fish that are in it now are lying deep in the only part of deep water left in the pool which is impossible to get a fish to rise to a fly. I could use a bottle tube or something and get down after them but it's just not as exciting as seeing them on the surface after the small stuff. It really is a sad sight to see my once favourite pool on the river in such a sorry state. A pool I once had 14 fish out of alone in a single season.

So, unfortunately it looks as if this Twelfth week will pass me by for another year season without a fish. I just hope that we get rain soon to shift any grilse that have arrived, out of the tidal and the dam.

In the past in spells of low water, the fish have entered the tidal section, got to the dam about 2 miles from the estuary, used the fish pass to get into the dam and then stayed there. Even when water did eventually come, they just stayed there and didn't run. Hopefully we get some rain soon and a "wee fresh" to get those fish moving. I certainly won't be back at the river until there comes water. It just depresses me looking at it.

So, it remains to be seen if this Twelfth Week starts the fishing season off properly, as it would have in the past, or if the Twelfth Week has went the same way as the Belfast and Derry fortnights and become things of the past.

Tightlines to anyone out for a cast this week! 

10 Irish Shrimp flies for Summer and Autumn

Irish shrimps still seem to be relatively popular here in the North West of Northern Ireland.  I understand they don't have the same following in other parts of the United Kingdom or the very south of the Republic of Ireland, but that is not to say they will not work there. 

Even here, in Northern Ireland, the newer generations are being drawn more and more to more 'modern' patterns, tied with materials that were not as common 10 - 20 years ago.  Basically then, every shrimp style fly was tied either Irish style, with a hackle for a tail and most likely Golden Pheasant, or the more Scottish preference for longtail flies tied with bucktail.  These types of flies were around for a long time before the great Ally Gowans introduced his famous shrimp.  Both 'Ally's Shrimp' and his later version 'The Cascade' really propelled the popularity of longtailed flies in subsequent years.

Following the rise in popularity in the UK and Ireland of Scandinavian style patterns, it wasn't long until these more mobile materials became more popular for tails on shrimp style flies.  Arctic Fox became a popular material along with Arctic Runner which was made famous by Ross Macdonald's wonderful Park and Calvin's shrimp.

That is not to say that the Irish Shrimp flies are still not popular today.  There are still many anglers who use very little else and still land respectable numbers of salmon every season.

The idea for this post came into my head as I thought about the Wilkinson Shrimp.  I used to use the Wilkinson a lot and it was usually one of the first flies that I'd hook a salmon on every season.  It seems to have fallen out of favour with me in recent times and I can't remember the last time I used one.  I then got thinking, if I had to name my favourite ten Irish Shrimp flies, could I do it?  I'll be honest, it turned out to be a bit of a struggle.

I eventually managed to pick 10 flies.  Now, I know many people will not agree with this list as everyone will have their favourites.  However, if you had these 10 flies in your box in a few different sizes, I have no doubt that you'd have a very successful season. Or, as successful as any other at least.

No. 10: The Apache Shrimp

The Apache is another that seems to divide opinions.  Some love it and would fish nothing else, while others think it too bright and gaudy and would not entertain having one in their box.  Invented by Bert Atkins, this pattern has taken salmon everywhere it has been fished.  It will take grilse in summer and later running fish in the Autumn. I've had fish on it on everything from being tied on tubes, right down to size 14 in summer.  Always worth a throw when there are fish about.

No. 9: Green Silk

I can hear the Faughan Anglers grumbling already.  "The Green Silk at Number NINE!!!".

It just isn't a fly I use too often or have had a great deal of salmon on.  So why include it on my list at all then?  Well, purely for it's place in local angling heritage.  

Designed and tied by local man, Laurence Cunningham, in the late 70's/early 80's, it was held in such high regard by anglers on the Faughan.

It is one of those flies that has caused arguments along the river about the correct shade of green to use for the rear body or the shade of badger used for the front and that was even before Jungle Cock was brought into the equation.

I read on the Salmon Fishing Forum once where the forum member had spoken to Laurence's brother about the correct shade of green to use for the body.  He said the shade of green wasn''t really all that important as long as it stayed the same shade when it got wet.  What he did say though, was that the pattern MUST have Jungle Cock.  Without it, the fly could not and SHOULD NOT, be called a Green Silk.

So, for it's place in local angling folklore, it makes my list.  An absolutely beautiful pattern that still catches fish today and works all season long.

No. 8: Wilkinson Shrimp

This is the fly that brought the idea for this blog post into my head. This used to be one of my 'go to' flies as I got more and more into fly fishing around the year 2000.  I've had fish on this pattern in all sizes and was a favourite of mine tied in very small sizes in summer.

This is another that has fallen out of favour with me in recent years and I really don't know the reason why. It was very common in the past that this fly would hook me my first fish of the season.  It has caught me the earliest fish I have ever landed which was in the very first week of the season in 2002.

A truly excellent fly for fresh grilse.

No 7: The Gold Bug

The Gold Bug was one of the first Shrimp flies I tried to tie.  After reading Peter O'Reilly's book, it was one of the few patterns that he said didn't require Jungle Cock.

It is just such a beautiful little pattern and it really glows in a spate.  The gold body shining through the orange and brown hackles, the pattern really stands out.  I have caught fish on this pattern in clean and coloured water, right throughout the season.  Use it with complete confidence, anytime from April to October.

No. 6: Bann Special

One of thee truly great shrimp flies.  I've probably caught more fish on a Bann Special than any other pattern.  It just works!

I had tied flies and caught fish on things I'd put together myself but this was the first pattern that I first really latched onto and had success with almost right away.  

This is one that I am quite strict with myself on how I tie it.  My own Bann Specials must have Seal's Fur bodies.  The yellow seals fur, with a wee bit of brushing, gives a lovely effect under the orange middle hackle.  I like to use broader oval tinsel on the rear body too and this also shines under the water giving lots of flash and contrast of colours.

If anyone is planning a trip to Ireland, make sure you have a few of these in your box.  I would have no doubt that the Bann Special will take fish anywhere it is fished.  A shrimp of the highest order.

If it's so popular with me, why is it only at number 6?  Again, tastes change with me and things fall out of favour.  In the Bann Special's case, it was just too successful.  Tying on a Bann Special almost felt like cheating.  I know that sounds crazy but no one can understand how my brain works and it's too difficult to explain. Tying on a Bann Special for me now is almost like admitting defeat.  I'm tying on a Bann Special now just to catch a fish.  It feels almost like surrendering!

Tie a few up, tie one on occasionally and if you don't catch fish, there are none there! ;)

So we've finally reached the top 5.  If you only had the previous 5 in your box, there is no reason you wouldn't catch fish.  Hopefully these next 5 will help get you a few more

No. 5: Orange and Copper shrimp

This was one I put together myself in the late 1990's.  At that time, the 'Kylie Shrimp' was popular in Trout & Salmon magazine so this was my attempt at an Irish version of that beautiful fly.  The version above is a quite recent version with a wound oval copper tinsel rear body.  The original version had a flat copper tinsel body, ribbed with oval silver.

This was the first fly that I caught a salmon on in really dirty water.  I went to the river one morning with a bait rod and the fly rod with me.  The water was like milky tea in colour.  I fished a good couple of hours but there was no sign of the water cleaning and I hadn't had a touch on the worm.  I was about to go home but then thought I'd try to see if I was able to roll cast off the bank so that I could fish this spot in better water.  I gave about 3 very poor roll casts, the fly was only hitting the middle of the river and no more, and just as the current started to move the fly, the line began to tighten and I managed to land a sparkling fresh fish of about 7lb.  

A few years ago too there was a big spate on the river.  It wasn't quite clean yet but if I'd waited until it was clean, the water would have been gone.  It was dodgy enough crossing in that height of water but I managed to get to the far bank and to a pool that usually fishes well in a good spate.

As I got into the water to fish the pool, I looked up the far bank and there was a guy coming down it with a spinning rod.  I didn't even know the chap owned a spinning rod as I'd only ever seen him fly fishing.  He called across, "It's too big and too dirty for fly!". I called back, "If I can't fish fly, I can't fish!". We both laughed and I got the fly in the water and began casting.  First cast, just to about the middle of the pool, second cast to about 3/4 of the way across the pool.  Third cast, the fly just short of the far bank and the water started bringing the fly round very quickly. Upstream mend, still coming quickly. Another upstream mend just to slow thing down a bit more and as the fly reached the middle of the river the line went tight and I had a fish on.  It wasn't that big, around 6lb, but I managed to land it and release it again with very little fuss.

I looked back upstream again to see the chap spinning and he was down on his two knees frantically trying to get a fly rod put together!!! 

I hooked another 2 that day in a pool further downstream and that day will live long in the memory.

These memories are why this fly sits so high on my list.

No. 4:  Green Peter Shrimp

This variant of the Green Peter Shrimp from Chris Mann's book, and given as a creation of Peter O'Reilly, has become a firm favourite of mine in recent years.  I first tied it around 2016 and have hooked fish on it every season since.  The middle hackle on these should be grizzle, which I don't have, so I use a speckled feather from a Jungle Cock cape instead.

I remember fishing one of my favourite pools one morning a few years ago.  I had fished it through a couple of times and hadn't had a touch.  I saw the first Green Peter Shrimp I'd ever tied in the box and thought I give the pool one more run through before I went home.  I hooked and landed 2 grilse before I even got as far as the middle of the pool.

It is a great pattern for low water on a dull day and the Sea trout seem to hammer it too.  

Not a famous fly in any way, and I'm sure many reading this will only be seeing and hearing of the fly for the first time, but it definitely has become a firm favourite of mine.

No 3:  Red & Gold Shrimp

This was, without doubt, my absolute favourite fly for September and October.  I first became aware of this pattern in Peter O'Reilly's book, Trout & Salmon Flies of Ireland.  I remember reading the book and seeing the remarks that many of those who used the pattern believed a fish couldn't swim past it in September. Or something along this lines.  I wasn't long in tying one and had success on it almost right away.

It is such a simple fly to tie too with only one body section tied the full length of the shank and the two hackles at the front.  It was only in recent years when looking over the book again, that I noticed that the fly should have had veilings.  So, I hadn't really tied a Red & Gold shrimp at all but a variant of one.

Regardless of the veilings, this is a top notch fly for late in the season and well worth a cast from September on.

No. 2:  Curry's Red Shrimp

Without question, thee most famous Irish shrimp that has ever existed.  The granddaddy of them all.  Genesis for every Irish shrimp that has been created since.  Pat Curry's famous Red Shrimp.

This was the fly I always wanted to tie properly growing up. This was a fly I held, and still hold, in the highest of regard.

Even before I'd seen one, I'd heard of it. When I was young and spinning the river, I'd hear the old hands talking of Green Silks, Fiery Browns and Curry's Reds.  They were talked about almost with reverence.  

I'd seen the pattern in fishing magazines during the 90's and had tried a few but veilings were such a hassle to tie in and get sitting correct. It is only relatively recently that I have begun to be happy with my own Curry's Reds and was so embarrassed by my attempts in the past that I wouldn't even call them Curry's Reds.

One that I would have no trouble fishing right throughout the season with complete confidence. A stunning pattern and a great catcher of fish. So, why does it only come in at number 2? It was a very tough call between it and eventual number one.  Purely because I use the other more often was main reason for it to come out on top.

Purely, because of the regard I hold it in, that it annoys me so much when I see people leaving out veilings or using red middle hackles or some other nonsense, in someway trying to improve perfection.  Another reason is that I just don't use it enough to call it my favourite fly. However, there is no other fly that I hold in as high regard.

No. 1: The Foxford Shrimp

As I said, my number 1 could very easily have been the Curry's Red.  However,  out of all the shrimp flies, I probably use the Foxford more than any other.

It seems to work in all heights and colours of water and seems to work from the start to the end of the season.

I hadn't seen,or heard of, the Foxford Shrimp until I got Peter O'Reilly's book in the late 1990's.  Looking through the pictures in the book, it didn't really jump out at me either.  It was only when I actually read the book and the comments attached to the fly that I began tying it. What a fly it turned out to be.

 I'll hold my hands up here.  It would appear that I have never actually tied a Foxford shrimp at all.  Since having had contact with the great Robert Gillespie, a man with a great depth of knowledge of both angling and the flies themselves, it appears that the front hackle colour of the Fosford is vitally important.  It must be a nice rich ginger colour.  Had I have known this from day one, my OCD for fly correctness would not have allowed me to attempt the fly. It was the remarks in O'Reilly's book that. I felt, gave me wriggle room to use a brown front hackle as I didn't have any ginger.  

The remarks were as follows. "... the front hackle colour is important, being a rich gleaming ginger shade - almost cinnamon in colour - often found in a farmyard Cockerell. Some anglers prefer to use a dark chocolate brown or a furnace hackle as the front hackle." I took the last part of that quote to mean, use whatever brown hackle you had.  It appears that this should not have been the case.

So all these years I've been tying variants of the Foxford Shrimp and have never actually tied a proper one.  I know some people will scoff at that like it's not important but just as Jungle Cock was important to Laurence Cunningham and his Green Silk, the front hackle of a Foxford is an integral part of that pattern and one that should be respected.  I will tie a proper one someday.

So there we have it.  My ten favourite Irish Shrimp flies.  If you haven't used an Irish Shrimp for your fishing, pick any of those above and give them a try.  Why not use a dropper setup with your favourite fly on the point and one of those above on the dropper and see how things go? As I said at the beginning, I have no doubt that any of these flies will take salmon on any river they are fished, anywhere in the world.

Now, as I said, I narrowed this down to ten but it could easily have been 15 or 20.  Here are a couple that just missed out.

One I tied in recent years, I feel, looks well and I have had fish on it but it's not one I've used too often so could not include it over any of those above.  A shrimp fly tied using the colours of the Kinermony Killer Flamethrower pattern made popular by Duncan Egan.

Another excellent pattern that just missed out was the McCormick's Shrimp.  A very dark pattern that still catches fish when brighter flies seem to miss out.  I would class it as an end of season pattern but apparently it is a very good fly for spring also.

The McCormick's is slightly different than most Irish Shrimps in that it uses two tails.  A first tail of claret bucktail is then cloaked by a dyed claret GP feather. 

Again, the only reason that this missed out on the top 10 is that I don't use it as often as I should.

So, there you have it.  I started out with a top 10 and ended up giving a dozen top class salmon flies that will catch Atlantic Salmon no matter where in the world they are tried.

Tie one on any fish any of them with complete confidence. 

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it.