Thought I would tie up an Easky Gold Shrimp named after the Easky River in Co Sligo, Ireland (my favourite spate river ). I have kept it a bit shorter than the last one as a lot of the techniques are the same - main difference being the tinsel body. Its a good fly for peaty spate rivers.

Materials
- ED Gold size 10 treble and red thread
Tag - gold oval tinsel
Tail - hot orange krystal hair, dyed orange GP breast feather
Back body - gold wire, holo gold tinsel
Middle Hackle - hot orange cock
Front body - same as back with addition of JC roofed
Front Hackle - dyed red silver badger



make base of thread on treble




tie in oval tinsel, wrap round treble and tie off



tie in orange krystal hair (two different lenghts)



select breast feather and tie in by tip (took Otter's advice here )



wrap round feather and tie off



this is the tail top profile



tie in gold wire, again I use this particularly on tinsel bodied flies as its more durable



tie in holographic gold tinsel, this tends to not be as strong as regular tinsel so you need to make sure to varnish it. I normally tie it in where you want the middle hackle to be.



I lay down a first coat of varnish on top of the thread. I then wrap the tinsel down to the tail. I then put on a thinner second coat of varnish on ie. over the first layer of tinsel. I then wrap the tinsel back up towards the eye of the hook - this creates a double layer of tinsel with a varnish sandwich. The final part is to wrap round the wire and tie it off. It is then important to leave the varnish to dry fully - as Graham does I would normally tie a batch of tails up and then finish the fronts later.



tie in the orange cock feather and double it



wind round the hackle and tie off



go through the same process of tying in the wire and the tinsel



again same process of creating the 'tinsel sandwich with wire on top'



tie in some JC and then a the red front hackle



wrap round the hackle and tie off, wip finish and varnish head



another angle of the finished fly to show the profile and how the holo gold shines through the hackles

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Finn Gold perfection

Another nice one Easky, thankyou

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ukflydressing A UK based fly tying site packed full of flyting tips and photographic step by steps. Now with added fly fishing section.

stunning as usual andrew. will have to book a few lessons

ps are there any areas of the 6 mile where you have lost a fair number of these flies

That looks bloody fantastic again. I know some people think jungle cock is the be all and end all but is there anything else you could replace it with? I know it won't be as effective but the wallet is a little light at this time of year so i'm just wondering if there is a cheaper alternative. Anyway, another one to try, thanks for the effort Easky

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salmon- 8, grant -0, home win, again...

consider just leaving it out granters? i've only recently started using it and i haven't noticed any great increase in catches.

try adding a thin arcitc fox wing instead.

or you could try goose biots/fake jc/golden pheasant tippet.

anything that is a target area as i believe the theory is that salmon attack the head of the fly.

I have a set of retractable ladders.

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www.paypalsucks.com

cheers mate. The thing is i normally leave it out so i was just wondering about alternatives to give a go. I had never thought of using goose biots, great suggestion. I've tried pheasent tippets before on flies but i just don't like the look of it as a "cheek". I've never really been convinced by the jungle cock thing either but i've only been tying salmon flies for a year so what do i know. I understand the fact that it creates a nice target area but i'm not convinced enough to spend a fortune on it if there's somthing that can give a similar effect

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salmon- 8, grant -0, home win, again...

that sounds like a plan rrw, you bring the ladders and I will bring the snorkling gear for recovering reels

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Finn Gold perfection

Granters - as the wickedpicket has said you could just leave the JC out, while I like it I have only fairly recently started to use it a bit more. I think it does set off some flies very well but in terms of effectiveness/hook ups it probably catches more anglers than fish . I think its down to the confidence you have in the fly, if you think of the Cascade - probably the most popular and effective fly at the moment, its doesn't normally have JC.

I think the overall pattern is what's important - JC may give it a slight edge but if you are tying the rest of the fly well then I wouldn't get too concerned about not including it.

btw - while JC can be v expensive for top grades you can pick up reasonable capes for £40-50

E

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Finn Gold perfection

Hi Easky

Largely agree with what you say re JC. I only rarely put JC on shrimp patterns as I think it actually sometimes impedes the movement of the hackles.

There are some flies though that just don't look right without it - particularily on the small singles for sea trout. My favorite fly for small spate rivers for Salmon / Sea trout - where the most likely hookup is sea trout is a size 8 / 10Thunder and Lightening - I couldnt even picture this fly without small JC cheeks. Also the Kingsmill I feel would be naked without JC.

Every salmon fly tier should experience tying with it.

If JC does give an edge I would reckon that its at its best when added as small checks on dark flies, particularily against a black or mallard type wing.

Having said that, every salmon fly tier should experience tying with it.

Just had another look at the Easky Gold and spotted that you tied in the tail by the tip ...

It definitely is different (for better or worse - God knows) - compare the Easky tail and the tail on the Currys Shrimp u previously tied.

Nicely tied, thanks for sharing it.

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An la ag iascaireacht is an la go brea.