Ally's Shrimp

This year’s fall salmon angling season should be a great one, as nearly 2 weeks of heavy rains in late August brought fall-run salmon into Nova Scotia’s Northumberland Strait rivers much earlier than usual.

By September 1, opening day, fall salmon were present in these streams that usually make anglers wait until October. But while anglers rejoiced, potato and blueberry farmers wept over crop loss due to the long wet spell that delayed their harvest. An old saying goes, “Be careful what you wish for because you might get it!”

Ally’s Shrimp – A Scottish Atlantic Salmon Wet Fly

Ally’s Shrimp is now the most popular shrimp pattern worldwide for salmon, growing steadily in popularity since its creation in the late 1980’s. Alastair Gowans, a Scot who conducted a Spey casting workshop in Nova Scotia a few years ago, is the originator.

We generally regard brightly coloured shrimp flies as best for fall salmon fishing in cold water, but darker versions of Ally’s Shrimp in small sizes can be very effective in late summer. The dressing shown below is the original, highly recommended for fall fishing.

A 2001 book “Shrimp & Spey flies for Salmon & Steelhead” by Chris Mann & Robert Gillespie discusses Ally’s Shrimp and many variants in detail.
 

Ally’s Shrimp
 

Thread:             Red

Hook:               Black single salmon hook such as Mustad 36890 sizes 1 – 6, barbless

Tail:                  A small bunch of hot orange bucktail with four strands of pearl Krystal Flash, 1 – 2 times the     length of the hook shank

Rib:                  Oval gold tinsel

Body:                Rear half red floss, front half black floss

Underwing         Top & bottom, natural grey squirrel, tied flat extending to the hook bend

Wing:               Golden Pheasant tippets, extending to hook barb

Hackle:             Hot orange hen hackle, folded, tied as a collar & dressed back, length to match tippets

Head:               Red thread with 2 coats of glossy finish, such as Angler’s Corner Wet Head Cement.

Please stay on the line …