AmericanFlyFishing.com - Patterns: Fly Tying, McQuades Banded Shrimp

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5/21/2013

McQuades Banded Shrimp
By Jason Akl

The McQuade’s Banded Shrimp is one of those special patterns that well informed angler’s carry and depend on to turn the tides on a rough day fishing the flats.

It is an understatement to say that bonefish love shrimp patterns that have lots of action. With this pattern the soft hackle tips used in the claws and the palmered grizzly hackle used for the underbody drive fish wild with their sultry movements in the water. This simple, effective bonefish pattern features grizzly hackle for that banded "shrimpy" look, while the light composition of this fly allows it to float and flutter along the bottom as it if were swimming on its own. Tie this fly in sizes 2-6.

Step 1 Start this fly by placing your hook into the vice securely and attaching the thread behind the hook eye. Clip a small bunch of white calf tail and align the end using your hair stacker. Tip this bunch of calf tail onto the hook shank at the point directly above the hook barb. This bunch of calf tail should extend off the back of the hook ½ inch. Cut two grizzly hackle tips from good quality neck. Measure these tips so that they will be approximately twice as long as the calf tail you tied in earlier. Tie these tips on the side of the calf, extending off the rear of the fly. At the tie in point for the calf tail, use a figure eight thread wrap and tie in a pair of black bead chain eyes. A drop of head cement will help to hold these eyes in place better then thread tension alone. Cut one last small bunch of calf tail fibers and align the tips again. Tie this bunch of fibers on top of the bead chain eyes extending about ¼ of an inch off the rear of the fly.

Step 2 Fix a long webby grizzly hackle with Flexament and allow it to dry thoroughly. Tie this hackle in behind the bead eyes and leave it hanging off of the back of the hook. Tie in two more large grizzly hackles and a 3-inch section of gold wire. Palmer the two hackles forward up the body of the fly until you reach the back of the hook eye. You should have created a thick bushy body the entire length of he hook shank. Counter wrap the gold wire in the opposite direction that you palmered the hackle to hold every thing in place snugly. Just be careful that you do not wrap down any of the hackle fibers with the gold wire.

Step 3 With a sharp pair of scissors clip the bushy body you just made leaving the hackle fibers on the bottom of the hook shank long. Pull the fixed grizzly hackle over top of the hook shank and tie it off behind the hook eye. Leave a short squared off tag end to the hackle to act as a tail for the fly. Whip finish the thread and cement the head.

Click photos to enlarge

Products for this fly:
•	Tiemco TMC 811S Hooks
•	Uni 3/0 Tying Thread
•	Whiting Bugger Packs
•	Wapsi Calf Tail
•	Puglisi EP Hot Eyes

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