Bonefish and other Shrimp Fly Patterns: Tying Internal Color 

Sure thing, Randy! Let me know how they do for you if you give 'em a try down there. Thanks again.

Hey Walter, so glad to hear that the audio helped you enjoy the video more! Hope fishing's going well for you!

+Wildfound.weebly.com Hey, I appreciate that! No question, smallmouth will eat these, particularly if you can sight fish. Here's the smallmouth version more or less. Also, works very well on largemouth in various other colors. toflyfish.com/smallmouth-bass-fly-the-smallmouth-gotcha/

Right on, MrCribbss!

+rkkelly36 Hey rkkelly36! I use Dr. Slick's curved scissors. You can buy them in 4" or 4.5" models more or less. Anvil also has amazing scissors. You should be able to find them at quite a few places, even Amazon in some cases. Hope this helps!

My adrenaline was pumping on the second wrap for sure!

Hey, Kenneth. Thanks for the kind words. The main point of this video is to demonstrate the technique rather than coming up with a "new" bonefish pattern. Flies with this technique will catch bonefish anywhere in the world. Like with all fish, sometimes they want really subtle colors, sometimes they want really bright colors, and sometimes they want just enough to capture their attention while still remaining more or less natural. Fishing pressure often has a lot to do with how bright your pattern can be, but this technique allows you to create a more subtle pattern while still attracting. This also goes for permit. They are surprisingly receptive to brighter orange shrimp patterns in places like Cuba, Belize, and Mexico. toflyfish.com/fly-fishing-for-permit-in-belize/ Each part of a larger bonefish/permit destination can be unique. For example, Andros (or even parts of Andros) is going to be a little bit different from Exuma, and Ambergris is going to be different from Turneffe Island. I would recommend choosing a specific location and then tying your flies accordingly. If you have a specific location in mind, let me know. If I don't have direct experience there, I have friends who have fished nearly every bonefish location in the world, sometimes many, many times. Generally though, this pattern in the right sizes will do very well for you in places like the Bahamas, Mexico, and Belize, when the bones want color but not too much color/flash. This assumes that the weight of the fly etc. is ideal as well. Hope this helps, and feel free to shoot me an email on our site, toflyfish.com. Thanks again! Here's a podcast I did with Shawn Leadon about Andros. He really likes flash, but orange and pink does very well at times: toflyfish.com/big-andros-island-bonefish/ Here's another pattern that you might like: toflyfish.com/gb-shrimp-bonefish-fly/

wow, you blew me away with all this information thank you! this is wery helpful. im norwegian and dont have a lot of experience with warm water and bonefish fishing. so this information is wery mutch apretiated :) i tied this pattern in salmon pink on a size 4 gamakatsu f314 hook do you know if that will hold the bonefish or is it to fragile? i will travel to belize in january/ferbruary and will tie a lot of flies for my trip there (so this pattern wil be in my flybox) and i wondered if you have some small tarpon patterns that you recomed?. i will also try to catch tarpon while in belize. i have an 8 weight rod with floating line, will that work for the bonefish and small tarpon. i saw you needed a #9-#10 rod to fish for the permit so im afraid my 8 weight wont be strong enogh to handle it.

Hey Kenneth, shoot me an email at flyfish@toflyfish.com, and I can give you some more info. Thanks.

Hi Rafe. Thanks! Most of my materials, including the bunny, are Hareline. The brush is Velcro on my bodkin, but there are lots of different brushes out there. That's worked for me in most cases. Here's the link to the materials list etc. toflyfish.com/shrimp-fly-patterns-internal-color/ Hope this helps!

for the brush/dubbing loop i just used my white lab’s fur that i save when brushing her and some angel fibers or ice dub. it looks even better than some brushes i’ve paid for

Thanks FFT! Probably the best way to go is to tie a Veverka’s Mantis Shrimp first. It’s basically this fly without the wing. Once you’ve got that down, you can go after the wing. Thanks again!

Not bad, Miles. Thanks for the suggestion!

Hey Mark, thanks for the comment. Your comment gets into an issue much deeper than whether these types of flies are "shrimp" flies or not. At what point does any fly become an adequate imitation of the natural it is trying to imitate? The answer to that question has more to do with a tyer's theoretical approach to tying and their experience with the fish they pursue. Could definitely talk about this for hours. Maybe we'll have that opportunity some day. I appreciate your point. Thanks again!

@@toflyfish Yes I wasn't being critical of you as such it was a general observation . A lot of people categorise flies into 3 types. Simulators, imitators, and attractors. But like you say this could be argued endlessly as the lines between each type are obviously blurry to say the least. Thanks for the reply.

+FattyMateo Hey, thanks for the suggestions. I've normally been horrible at naming my flies, i.e., I haven't done it very much. This pattern still doesn't have a name since I wanted to demonstrate the technique while at the same time tying a full pattern. Thanks again!