there are many other suitable hooks...
Place this scud hook with the eye up. The vise
should clamp the throat just before the barb. Since it has an extreme
bend you will need to place the area of curve (approx. one third of the
hook) that requires dressing in a satisfactory position.
Begin with invisible thread approximately 1lb test monofiliment.
After a few wraps lay in a small amount of the throat
color, often red. I use ‘FishHair’. Care should be taken to
secure it on the ‘top-side’ of the hook with light wraps *then* ‘roll it
under’ with thumb and forefinger and part the fibers equally to straddle
the throat of the hook with one of those needle-on-a-stick thingys. When
it's perfectly in place snug it down wrapping tightly fore and aft.
Next wrap on a ‘single strand of holographic tinsel on each side of the throat color…just a little longer than the throat FishHair. If the tinsel tends to bend allow the bend to go outboard…
The remaining fibers should equal the length of the holographic tinsel and be no more in bulk than the throat color.
In order wrap on top of the hook:
Flashabou Tinsel Marabou Action (Hedron Inc.) your
color
FishHair your color
Flashabou ‘Glo in-the Dark’ your color
Krystal Flash your color
throughout this process occasionally place a minute ‘drop’ of superglue on the wraps…
finish invisible thread with a couple of half hitches
and cut off.
Using Kreinik Glo-in-the-Dark Blending Filiments (or
which ever glo in the dark thread you prefer) begin just forward of mid
body and work forward to throat and back with tight slightly overlapping
wraps to cover completely and ‘build up’ towards the rear. If done deftly,
a slight rise will be created by the Blending Filament which then steps
down.
Anchor down, a bit abaft the beam, with invisible thread and cut off the Blending Filament. Take a couple of wraps to position the eye stalks. This will be just behind the built up Blending Filament. Place an eye stalk furthest away from you with the eye hanging just a bit forward of the Glo in Dark body. Anchor with several swift wraps, Finger dexterity is crucial here…
Continue wrapping, first over the stalk and body then push eye up and snugly wrap under and inward against the bottom side of the eye stalk. Begin alternating these wraps and continue elevating the eye until a desired position is achieved…you now have one eye cinched in place in the forward two thirds of the body. The monofilament stalk is angled off just a few degrees and poised upward to a degree that suits the tyer…. I like mine worried looking…. a little fear
A Sentinel alertness, but not overbearing...
{ an ideal presentation… the throat, weighted with a couple of wraps of fine lead wire quickly sinks the critter into a soft sand bottom leaving the antenna, a glint of tinsel and the eye stalks jutting out, lying in the path of Trevally, snook, croaker or trout and ready to be twitched into panicked flight.}
The second eye is a little trickier.
Lay it on the side nearest you. Position the angle of the stalk and placement of the eye equal with but on the opposite side of the first eye. Began alternating wraps over and under until you are winding a figure eight around both stalks. Do not allow your wraps to wander back down the shank. Keep the winding condensed and only a few centimeters wide at this initial cinch point.
When both eyes are securely poised in the proper position let your thread hang and carefully snip the eye stalk tag ends evenly approximately one sixteenth to one eighth inch below the wrap. Apply a drop of superglue and carry on wrapping to a point just below the cut ends…you will have to build up the winding where the ends drop off until you get a nice beveled taper.
When a satisfactory ‘back curve’ has been achieved sling a couple of half hitches and cut your winding thread. Resume with the Blending Filament from the REAR most portion of the body and wrap carefully up the back of the eye stalks until you meet the point they jut forward and out of the body. At this spot patiently wrap between, over and under the eyes (I use a figure eight wrap) until the body is completely covered and has a pleasing shrimp curve overall. Pick up your invisible thread and lock the Blending Filament down and snip it off close to the body.
Now you are almost done…
An antenna should be placed on either side of the body just below the eye stalks. In some cases they may be secured before attaching the eyes.
Place an antenna on the far side and from the rear begin wrapping it to the shrimp using invisible thread. The small bit you leave poking out the rear will get snipped off with the other antenna which you will apply the same way after the first is secure.
The Antenna is both for aesthetics as well as presenting
a crisp colored lateral line down the length of the shrimp body…any number
of materials may be used… holographic, mother of pearl or brilliant glo
in the dark filament are all suitable candidates for this visual enhancement…
I have found the Mustad 37160 tue suitable
for this pattern. Over the years I have dressed a variety of hook
styles with the Worried Shrimp, the first being an ordinary salmon roe
hook. Naturally it would be wonderful to have a hook specifically
designed for the shrimp; one forged with most of the weight forward
in the barbed or barbless point to give the shrimp a fast nose drop to
be offset by a twitching retrieve...a fleeing worried shrimp gait…
Since TWS is a work in progress …I would
hope that any who would pursue its creation keep a weather eye out for
new Hi-Tech Flashy thingys… New WayToKewl glow and flash are
welcomed here…
So far the strongest and visible pleasing line has been
Stren Gold Fluorescent in 40lb. test for hooks 6-8 and 80lb. test for hooks
2 - 4 . The poorest candidate for melted-eye-strength has been
the red and green Amnesia - 30lb. test although the red line produces the
nicest eyes.
flexcoat and microflake
I spend from ten to fifteen minutes dressing WS to the point of applying Griff’s Thick head cement (this can be omitted) and painting the eyes with the appropriate nail polish, glo in the dark fabric paint or other more imaginative coatings…However, the final touches probably add another minute or two …
{ from the vise the nearly finished shrimp is stuck into a 1/2" x 1/2" x 30" balsa stick. I am able to get about 25 number 6 size shrimp on this length of stick. The shrimp are now ready to be coated with flex coat. I have found that I need turn the stick only twice to allow for sagging. Apply only a minute drop of epoxy to the eye of the stalk. This portion is most susceptible to fish teeth and being quickly sheared off so it does need strength in the form of hardened epoxy...but not along its entire length. }
Warm the A and B parts of Flex Coat epoxy thus reducing
the occurrence of bubbles. I place the containers in hot water and
mix no more than one and one half cc’s of epoxy at a time as this is an
amount I am able to comfortably apply before it begins to setup.
To this mixture I add MicroFlake.