When you need to tie a lot of “seriously” good shrimp flies, try Ruben’s Sama Shrimp – its also easier to tie than his Orange Shrimp
[dropcap]O[/dropcap]kay, okay I get it, you think this Ruben Martin Sama Shrimp pattern is hard to tie, too complicated and requires unique materials only found in Slovenia on full moons. Well, stop right there. It does take a little time, but it goes together so smoothly it’s like a crossword puzzle with all the answers on the same page – just fill in the letters. More realistically, organize materials and pre-cut the antennas, make all the eyes and cut out the carapace shapes.
Angie Roth, my irascible litigator attorney (retired) angling friend “demanded” I tie a dozen of Ruben Martin’s simple shrimp flies. She believes that anything Ruben ties catch fish and she’s not at all wrong on that score unless you fish his saltwater baitfish patterns for mountain brookies.
I decided to tie two dozen, a dozen for each
She needed the flies before heading to Abaco, The Bahamas, with her sister. Both women serious fly anglers and had bones on their minds. Knowing them, that’s all they’d fish for all week long.
I was prepared to fill in with materials I didn’t have but found nothing significant had to be left out or even substituted, but since I tie on a tube, the hook would be whatever Angie and her sister decided.
Angie bought into my tube fly theory – tube flies do for the angler what hook tied flies can’t. The other oddity, the Telson; the terminal segment of the body of an arthropod or segmented worm. It would be a craft store 3m laminating film (heated to hardness) and hand mottled coloring. NOTE: You can buy a lifetime supply of 3m laminating film used for carapaces for about $8.
The only thing I needed to buy was a cigarette lighter for shaping antennae and making eyes.
Ruben Martin’s recipe for the SAMA SHRIMP:
Hook: TMC 7999 or similar
Thread: UNI 8/0 or Danville 6/0
Weight: optional, lead wire.
Antennae: olive or clear monofilament paint for the eyes and black for striping bars.
Eyes: clear monofilament, burned and painted
Ribbing: ultra fine clear monofilament.
“Rostrum”: fox hair, dyed olive.
Legs and underbody: light olive polar chenille.
Shell: heat shrinkable pipping, olive painted on top or see above mentioned 3M laminating film.
“Telson”: light olive fluff hackle fibers.
Note: The rostrum and telson are part a shrimp carapace.
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