Flies Of Yesteryear: Trueblood Shrimp

As a young teenager, some four decades ago, I would have never been without a few of Ted Trueblood's shrimp pattern on my local pond chasing stunted bass, crappie, perch and bluegill. These scrappy little guys absolutely loved this pattern as well as a Hare's Ear.   Now, in my middle aged years, these simple and impressionistic flies intrigue me.  So much so I have a fly box dedicated solely to flies of yesteryear.  Every so often I get a wild hair to fish retro - fiberglass and flies - and daydream of what fishing was like in those days...

 

As the name implies, Ted Trueblood designed his pattern to imitate shrimp in lakes and spring creeks. However, word soon hit the streets the Trueblood Shrimp could be fished successfully for different species in waters that lacked shrimp altogether.   Some literature from the 1970's suggests the fish may take the Trueblood Shrimp for callibaetis nymphs, too.  I believe this to hold weight as the local pond of my youth certainly did not contain scuds.  And I looked hard for them!

The effectiveness of the very simple fly comes from the use of seal's fur and a super impressionistic silhouette of several aquatic insects.  The Trueblood Shrimp, or Otter Nymph, flat out catches fish!

Tying Notes:

(1)  The Trueblood Shrimp is/was often called an Otter Nymph

(2)  Nearly every older pattern book lists the body material as a 50/50 mixture of otter and cream (natural) seal.  However, the exact ratio of otter to seal is 80/20 respectively.  More specifically, the otter should fur should come from the belly.  I have stuck to the 50/50 ratio due the my preference for the translucency of seal and confidence the fly is more effective with this ratio.

(3)  Another original portion of the recipe calls for brown thread if the fly is to be unweighted and green thread for weighted.  Green looks terribly tacky to me...  I used brown thread for weighted flies and tan thread for unweighted.

(4)  Various scud color combinations are highly encouraged.  Various shades of olive and dyed partridge has been very effective for me in British Columbia.

(5)  In the picture below the notable thick hairs is seal fur.  You can see just how translucent this fur is and how the Trueblood Shrimp, or any fly tied with seal, becomes a truly effective fly.  

Materials:

Hook:  Trueblood tied this pattern on a Mustad 3906B or 7957BX in sizes 8-16.  I've tied it on a Hanak 230BL, size 12.

Thread:  See note 3 above.

Tail:  Brown partridge

Body:  Otter and cream (natural) seal.  80/20 mixture respectively

Beard:  Brown partridge to hook point.