In Danish this shrimp fly is known as Den Fynske Reje, and it’s been successful in its basic form as well as in several variations
One of the joys, and curses, of being a saltwater-flyfisherman here in Denmark, and especially one who ties flies as well, is the constant belief that the perfect shrimppattern has not been invented yet, and that a tan-colored 3-4 cm fly can always be adjusted and improved... I jumped into that "trap" with both feet a long time ago and have since been tumbling around in a mass of adjustments, thoughts, trial fishing, discussions, sleepless nights... Does the result match the energy put into the project? Not at all. Have there been many interesting observations, thoughts, and experiences along the way? Absolutely!
The project started many years ago with what could best be described as a #4 hook with teal feathers, tan STF dubbing, roughly brushed with Velcro (I think there was also a flashy rib of some sort). The pattern then evolved through several phases over the years.
Eyes were added. Of course, the old-school method: melted 0.50 monofilament dipped in epoxy. During production, they would change shape multiple times before the epoxy fully dried, and out of 20 pairs of eyes, there was always a couple that fell off the fyring rack and glued themselves to the floor, some that became completely unusable, and then a pair or two that turned out nice. On a good day… And of course, perfectly shaped shrimpeyes were one of the absolute must-haves for catching anything…
Then there was the “carapace phase.” That phase didn’t last long, as it quickly became clear that not only did it create an upside-down fishing fly (which was totally a no-go...), but the carapace also removed a lot of the movement in the materials, which was what I actually wanted.
There were several "let's try this" phases, but I’ve probably suppressed most of them since they didn’t yield anything particularly useful...
So where has all of this ended up? Do I now have the perfect shrimp fly in my box? No more failures? A crowd of people at the beach, gathering around me to watch my shrimp flies? All ze ladiezzz? Not quite… BUT, the pattern (SPOILER ALERT: the patterns!) I now have in the box is definitely effective and lifelike enough that I haven’t felt the need to tinker with it for a while.
The pattern was originally just called Peter's Shrimp, but it was renamed "The Fyn’ish Shrimp" by my good friend Rene Gerken, and that name has stuck. Give it a try! It’s fairly fun to tie, the colors can be varied endlessly, and it has definitely proven its worth on the coast.
But of course, the story doesn’t end there … After a few particularly windy days with good water movement and reduced visibility, I decided to create a variation that appeared a bit more substantial.
That week, I was already deep into the "dubbing brush rabbit hole," so the solution was simply to add a Craft Fur hackle to the rear half of the hook shank/body. It was made with a blend of tan/chartreuse/salmon-colored Craft Fur. From the very first outings, this version caught fish and quickly earned its place in the box for those days when it was windy and there were waves …
But the story still doesn’t end there … On a windless day on West Funen, the "Storm Shrimp" accidentally ended up on the leader, and after seeing it in the water, I noticed that while the Craft Fur hackle moved nicely, it sank quite quickly with the hook-eye pointing down, whereas I’d actually wanted it to hover more gracefully, like a ballet dancer. So, I found some foam. A foam carapace on the rear part of the body solved the problem. It became a nicely hovering fly with great movement and similar enough to a shrimp when in the water that you could see what it was supposed to resemble.
And does the story end here? For now!
I have a good pattern with variations that cover different conditions and have been approved by seatrout enough times that all the variations have earned their permanent spots in the box.
That said, I know it’s just a matter of time before I’m sitting behind the vise on a chilly winter evening, thinking back to warmer days on the coast, and a “maybe I could … ”-thought pops into my head …
Andreas Werner
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