How do you like your Curry's?

 

No, this is not a blog on whether you prefer spicy Indian or Chinese food, although a nice Chinese chicken curry with fried rice would be nice right about now. This is about the old Irish Shrimp fly first introduced and tied by Pat Curry of Coleraine in the 1930s.

This blog post was meant to be about something else completely. I had intended to research and try to find out, if at all possible, where the Irish Shrimp fly originated. Despite quite a while researching on old newspapers etc. I could not really find out much information. Other than shrimps originated from the old Grub patterns of Kelson’s and Pryce-Tennant’s era, the later half of the 1800’s, I could not really find much information but suspect the style of fly we now associate with Ireland, could have actually originated on the Wye and Usk of Wales or the English borders. I do firmly believe that the Wye Bug and the Usk Grub were the first patterns to use a Golden Pheasant red breast feather as a tail with another two smaller cock or hen hackles going forward. I’ll try to keep looking to see if I can find anything definitive.

Another topic of huge debate is, who actually brought the fly to Ireland? There is some debate as to whether it was indeed the Coleraine man with his world famous red shrimp or a lesser known man from my own river Faughan, with his ‘Secret Weapon’, in E.C. Heaney.

There is probably more chance that it was indeed Pat Curry. I believe anyway. Not only was Pat a renowned fly tier of his time but he was also a highly revered angling guide and game shooter. Pat was highly sought after for his guiding services and was the first point of contact for many of the wealthy estate owners and angling enthusiasts visiting Northern Ireland and the river Bann in particular in the 1930s. It is possible that some of those visitors arrived with a few grub patterns from the Usk or Wye and Pat put his own twist on them. I am guessing of course but it could be a possible scenario.

Anyway, getting back to Pat’s fly in particular. Pat’s Red Shrimp has now become the most widely known and respected Irish Shrimp pattern around the salmon angling world. Even those who don’t use Irish Shrimp patterns themselves will have heard of, or know of, the Curry’s Red Shrimp. Whether or not the Usk Grub or Wye Bug did come before Pat’s Red Shrimp, it is Pat’s Shrimp that is seen as the basis for all other shrimps that have come since. That is a fine legacy!

So what made Pat’s fly so successful? I know it is a really beautiful fly to look at but just what makes it so attractive to the salmon? Is it just the right mix of colours? Just a flash of red shining through the subdued badger hackles? Is it the translucency of the badger hackles fluttering in the current that triggers the image of a natural shrimp in the eye and mind of the salmon? Or is it just a case of the old theory of covering the taking salmon with the fly at the right time at the right speed and depth? Who really knows. But what is certain is that Curry’s Red Shrimp still accounts for huge numbers of salmon in a season.

So we’ll look now at the actual pattern, the list of materials, to tie a Curry’s Red Shrimp. The pattern list does seem to have changed over the years. As has the actual pattern itself I suppose.

Generally today, the pattern would be listed as follows:

Tag: Oval Silver

Tail: Golden Pheasant Red Breast

Rear Body: Red Floss ribbed with oval silver tinsel

Veilings: Red hackle points above and below the hook

Mid Hackle: Badger Cock

Front Body: Black floss ribbed with oval silver tinsel

Veilings: Red hackle points above and below the hook

Front hackle: Badger Cock

Eyes: Jungle cock

These are the materials that are most readily available and will make a decent Curry’s Red.

If we go back and look more to how the pattern was originally tied, you will see quite a difference in the list of materials used. I say, originally tied, but what I really mean is the patterns given in the past.

 

E.J. Malone’s book gives the following pattern list for Curry’s Red Shrimp.

Tag: Flat Silver

Tail Hackle: Golden Pheasant Red Breast

Body: Rear – Red Floss

Rib: Fine Oval Silver

Veilings: Indian Crow (at sides of body)

Centre hackle: Badger cock

Body: Front – Black Floss

Rib: Oval Silver

Veilings: Indian Crow (at sides of body)

Wings: Two Jungle Cock (arrow – head on top of body and fully roofing black floss)

Front hackle: Long Grey Badger cock

Head: Red Varnish

The notes which follow the pattern state the following.

“The side veilings (front) must be long enough to be clearly seen against the underside of the jungle cock wings.

A variation is to dress the rear body with red fluorescent wool. A substitute for the Indian Crow may be pale cock pheasant neck feather dyed bright scarlet.

This pattern is generally recorded as having the veilings above and below but a letter written by Pat Curry, and now in the author’s possession, stresses, side veilings and roofed jungle cock.”

While Indian Crow is listed as the material for veilings, it would appear that Pat himself used the other material mentioned. Cock Pheasant neck feathers. Being a great game shooter and being so well know by the wealthy landowners at the time then this would make perfect sense to me. Pat would have had access to so many pheasants either shot by himself or the estates around Coleraine and the surrounding area. Pheasant neck feathers would have been in plentiful supply to Pat which I’m sure he dyed himself. Indian Crow was quite an exotic material even then and would probably have been quite expensive so it seems reasonable that Pat would have used the more readily available material.

Indian Crow would be more orange in appearance than the red we now associate with Curry’s fly. This idea is backed up even more when you see flies tied by Pat himself.

I was sent a photograph of one of Pat’s original Red Shrimps by the well known angler and fly tier from Northern Ireland, Andrew McGall. As can be seen the photos, the veilings used in those flies are red and would suggest that pheasant feathers or swan strips were used and not Indian Crow.

 

One of Pat Curry's own Red Shrimps.  Courtesy of, and many thanks to, Andrew McGall

 

This is backed up further by the book Shrimp & Spey Flies for Salmon by Chris Mann and Robert Gillespie.

It states: 'Curry's original pattern is almost always quoted as having Indian Crow veilings, sometimes only at the rear. Looking at the veilings on Curry's own flies, however, this is not the case. He always uses front and rear veilings and in most of the examples these are of dyed white ringreck pheasant feathers, although one example uses hackle tips. Curry makes no attempt to imitate Indian Crow with pheasant ringneck feathers but simply dyes them plain colours to suit the dressing of the fly'........ 'The form of veilings is also interesting in that they are markedly spade shaped, again no attempt has been made to modify the feather shape to match that of an Indian crow. Based on the evidence we have of Curry's own tyings, we think it unlikely that the veilings were ever normally Indian Crow. This is not to say that examples were never dressed using Indian crow but that if they were they were likely to be ‘specials’ using the diminishing stocks of feathers held for tying the classic fully dressed salmon flies'.

How exactly the pattern became as it is more widely known today, with the vielings above and below the shank, I am not sure.

I then have a dressing given in Peter O’ Reilly’s book “Trout and Salmon Flies of Ireland” which gives the following…

Tag: Oval or flat silver tinsel

Tail: Golden Pheasant red breast feather wound

Rear Body: Red Floss or seal’s fur

Rib: Medium or Fine Fine oval silver

Veilings: Red swan strip or hackle points

Middle hackle: White tipped badger

Front body: Black floss or seal’s fur

Rib: Fine oval silver

Veilings: Red swan strip or hackle points

Wings: Jungle cock

Front hackle: White tipped badge

Head: Red

This would have been the pattern that I would have followed myself over the years.

One thing is for sure though from all the pattern lists and various things written about the fly, veilings are an essential element of the Curry’s Red Shrimp.

I know I’m laughed at and ridiculed for my insistence on following pattern lists and trying to stick to the original patterns if possible. I hear it all the time from many people tying today that they don’t really follow patterns but try to put their own twist on things. That is fair enough, but if someone else attempts some of the patterns that these same people have claimed to have invented, they are not long in pulling people up that this part is missing or they should be using this material over another, etc.

A case in point of this was when I tied a fly a few years ago and put it on the Salmon Fishing Forum online. It was an Irish shrimp tied using the colours of a very famous flamethrower pattern. It turned out to be a very good thread and people were coming back with their own ideas and twists and takes on the pattern. It was great.

A short while after that, I got a message to have a look at a fly tying page on Facebook that I wasn’t involved with. It showed a user of the Salmon Fishing Forum bemoaning the fact that people were tying his fly and not giving him credit in their posts. A friend of mine posted a link to the Salmon Fishing Forum thread and the flies that I and others had posted and the Facebook thread was quickly deleted. If people are so demanding to be credited for variants of things today, I just feel it’s a bit rich that they can decide to leave bits of, or add bits, to classic patterns and claim them to be the same pattern. I just can’t understand that.

One example of this is a website I came across will putting things together for this blog post. It states, “The Curry’s Red Shrimp salmon fly is Pat Curry’s original shrimp fly, except that his had Red Swan strip veilings, which are no longer used.” I thought to start with that they meant that swan strips were no longer used and that hackle points or some other material was used but they then go on to give a pattern without veilings of any kind. The pattern given closely matches the Badger and Red pattern from Peter O’Reilly’s book or the Red and Black shrimp from “Along the Faughan Side”. Leaving veilings out of a Curry’s Red to me is a bit like leaving pastry out of a recipe for a sausage roll.

We have seen so far that there are already various items that have been used for veilings in the past and that is still the case today. I will show a few of the different materials that I have used myself over the years and try to show the difference that each type of veiling has on the look of the overall fly.

While there are various Indian Crow substitutes available, I’ve never used any of them myself. As stated above, I had always used swan strips or hackle points as the veilings on my Curry’s Reds.

Here is a version using swan strips as veilings:

Red Swan Strips

A finished Curry's Red using Swan strips as veilings

 

Another version using red hackle points as veilings.  These are actually the very small feathers from the very bottom of a dyed red cape.  The feathers that just can't be used for anything else.

Veilings of small red hackles

The finished article with red hackle tips

You can see the difference between the two flies above.  The solid red of the Swan strips and the more subdued red of the hackle tips.  Another version which I have used in the past for a more pronounced red shining through the badger hackles is done by using red knitting wool.

Red knitting wool rear veilings

A very bold red shining through the hackles

 

Perhaps a more simpler and more modern veiling material is Glo Brite floss.  I know a lot of people like to use Glo Brite number 4 for their veilings but this is orange in colour.  I prefer Glo Brite number 3, scarlett.

Veilings of Glo Brite Floss No. 3

Not just as bold as the knitting wool but still a strong red shining through

I have tied Curry's Reds in the past with the vielings at the sides and thought I'd tie one for this blog post in the same way using hackle points.  This pattern looks very different in the water and the veilings kick very differently when viewed directly from above.  The almost look the small paddles kicking in and out in the current.

Red hackle points tied at the sides of the hook shank

A very different looking Curry's Red

If you have a closer look at the all the variants I've posted above you will see that I have tied the Jungle Cock eyes in very flat.  This is to allow the front, top, veiling to be visible rather than being blocked out by the Jungle Cock.  If you can't see it, why bother tying it in to start with?

So that is a look at this most wonderful Irish Shrimp fly, the fly that preceded every single Irish Shrimp fly in existence today.  A fly that I personally hold in a higher regard than any other pattern in existence.

I have also shown some of the multitude of materials that can be used as veilings.  I've stated before on my blog about reading on the Salmon Fishing Forum about a forum user talking to the brother of Lawrence Cunningham about the Green Silk salmon fly from the river Faughan. He had asked about the correct shade of green for the body and was told that the shade of green used didn't really matter as long as it stayed the same shade when it got wet.  What he did say however, was that the pattern MUST have Jungle Cock.  Without it the fly should not and indeed, COULD NOT, be called a Green Silk.  

I have very similar views on the Curry's Red Shrimp.  If it does not have veilings, it CANNOT be called a Curry's Red!

These are all my own views and opinions and in no way have I intended to say that this is how a Curry's Red must be tied.  There are many tiers out there with more knowledge and ability than I will ever possess who will have very different opinions to my own.  I mean no offense or harm to anyone.