Marcelo Morales
Step by Step

Waddington White Shrimp

Nowadays we see many variations of articulated flies and intruders, however its interesting to know that this is not a new concept as in the forties Richard Waddington revolutionised salmon fly tying by creating the first articulated frame. This substantially improved the effectiveness of hook ups o View more...Nowadays we see many variations of articulated flies and intruders, however its interesting to know that this is not a new concept as in the forties Richard Waddington revolutionised salmon fly tying by creating the first articulated frame. This substantially improved the effectiveness of hook ups on fish and how the hook was set in fish. All the flies similar to this are the direct decedents of the Waddington Shank. Richard Waddington in thous days was a salmon fishermen and a renowned author of several books that are still relevant today. At the time large salmon hooks were used in high or turbid water conditions and were not easy to set in the mouth of the salmon and once set gave the salmon a good chance of escaping. Therefore Waddington set out to create a new design which gave rise to the articulated patterns. In the first models of the fly the hook was connected by a loop made of a gut similar to what we see in many intruder type flies today. This system soon proved its proficiency but the loop made out of a gut didn't last, so in the 1950’s Waddington asked Alex Martin to manufacture a metal frame to which he could attach a small hook to the back and to this day has remained pretty much the same. However nowadays we tend to use single barbless rather than treble hooks as used on the Waddington at the time, as fish were not returned to the water. With this design Waddington managed to create a fly that swan level in the water unlike the transitional salmon flies which lent back in the water due to the large hook and made the fly swim unnaturally. The flies where usually tied with hair or long hackles around the shank and with the flexible treble hook trailing from the back made it very difficult for salmon to pry free, unlike the large single hooks. The design known as the Waddington Shank was a huge leap forward and therefore remains unchanged to this day while the other more bizarre trials were discarded. I think its fair to say that there were many elements at the time copied by other people without giving acknowledgement to the people that started the trend. However fortunately I still have a lot of Waddington 10-55mm and is a pleasure occasionally to tie some of these slender flies giving me good results with big browns and rainbows. Although it was created as a salmon fly, this formidable streamer is simple and delicately tied giving great movement in the water while being easy to cast and achieving good depth without having to weight them. The Waddington White Shrimp as shown is tied with a triple hook or a triangle as Waddington would say to keep faithful to the original pattern, however can easily be changed for a single hook. In order to connect the hook to the waddington shank, slide a PVC tube over the hook. Then connect the hook to the shank. Lift up the tube so it holds both the shank and hook. This way you will have a flexible but not loose connection.

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List of materials

SHANK: Waddington shank or similar 55mm. HOOK: Partridge triple hook for tube fly. THREAD: 8/0 white and red. BODY: Hot orange and black floss RIBBING: Oval tinsel silver medium. WING: Ducktail orange and white. CHEEKS: Jungle cock.

Steps

Step 1

Waddington Shank

Step 2

With the 8/0 white thread make a neat layer down the shank from one end to the other. Just before the opening for the hook tie in a piece of the silver ovel tinsel and hot orange floss.

Step 3

Wrap the floss neatly up to slightly before the middle of the shank.

Step 4

With the ovel tinsel we make 5 wraps up the shank creating equal segmentations in the body before trimming the excess. Make sure the spacing is about 3-4 wraps in between.

Step 5

We match two locks of orange ducktail and begin tying one piece above and below. Make sure to take a lock that is long enough to cover the hook at the back.

Step 6

Using the same technique we used for the back section, complete the same but with black floss.

Step 7

Change the white thread to red to tie the red and white bucktail in a similar style as the back. This should be shorter that the bucktail used at the rear of the fly.