13 Awesome Shrimp Patterns

Shrimp are one of the most important types of bait for a variety of species. They are in every saltwater environment and are a favourite prey species of many popular sport fish. From redfish, snook, sea trout (all kinds), flounder  and more, fish love to eat shrimp.

Shrimp patterns are effective in a large number of fishing situations, but are especially effective when fishing inshore or estuaries. I’ve collected some really cool shrimp patterns below. Hopefully you can find a pattern to suite your fishing location and target species.

You can draw some inspiration and tie up one of the patterns listed here, or even tweak a pattern and make it your own.

The Presidential Shrimp

The hair is made of craft fur, and you can’t deny the resemblance to a certain president. Donald Trump honestly wasn’t a subject I expected to touch on while talking about shrimp fly patterns.

This is a product of the McFly Angler fly tying Youtube Channel. The fly tying tutorial can be found here. I love how he always demo’s the flies in his fish tank at the end of the video. The hair and legs really move nicely through the water.

Unnamed shrimp pattern #1

One of the most realistic patterns I’ve seen. I’m not sure what the pattern calls for material-wise, but I would say clear vinyl D-rib, white mo-hair yarn, shrimp eyes, bucktail, clear backing of some sort, and some epoxy would get you pretty close to this pattern.

The Circle Shrimp

So named due to being tied on a circle hook. This fly is a creation from the site thefeatherbender for chasing sea trout in northern Europe. I gotta say, it resembles alot of the shrimp flies we use on the east coast chasing sea run brookies, I’m sure it would work well on them.

Lester the Lobster

I couldn’t mention that the Circle Shrimp resembled certain Maritime shrimp fly patterns without mentioning this classic by name. Lester the Lobster is a long time favourite fly of many fly anglers on Prince Edward Island for chasing big sea run brook trout.

It’s generally an unweighted pattern (the eyes are plastic). It alsoworks well when weighted with some non-lead wire underneath the body.

Bleeding Glass Shrimp

I really like to use dumbbell eyes to weigh down shrimp flies, and ensure the hook is riding upright. Fishing shrimp patterns (and other streamer patterns) along the bottom is an effective technique for many different species.

The rubber legs on this fly make it stand out from other shrimp patterns. It’s something a little different that the fish probably hasn’t seen before.

Here are a few related products. If you buy anything below, I do get some beer money (commission).

Glass Shrimp

The epoxy body on this shrimp gives it a nice transparant look. The legs, tail, and eyes are also really well done. I’d fish this pattern in a heartbeat on a sunny day in clear water.

Seal Fur Shrimp

This is one of my own creations. I love using seal fur dubbing when making shrimp patterns, it’s just so wonderfully buggy. The eyes are melted mono. The back is just a strip of plastic packaging held in place by a few copper wraps.

I’ve caught many steelhead and sea run brook trout on this pattern, or a variation of it. It also works well when tied with a dumbbell eye on the back, so it rides hook up.

Magic Shrimp

This magic shrimp fly is a tie by Holger Lachmann. I love the detail on it, the curve, the eyes, the colour, all add up to make a great shrimp imitation. Holger Lachmann has a Youtube channel with some great ties that’s worth checking out as well.

Ice Dub shrimp

Ice dub makes for good body materiel on shrimp flies. I really like the backing, ribbing, and eyes on these flies.

Unnamed shrimp fly #2

The hand painted marks on this fly is something you don’t see very often in fly tying. The attention to detail on this fly is really impressive, it’s almost too nice to fish (almost). I discovered this pattern while browsing flytyingforum.com.

HMG (Hot melting glue) Shrimp

To look at this fly, it seems alot simpler than the other flies on this list, and it is. What I love about it is that the body is made of hot glue. The hackle is palamered before the glue has hardened. This means that the delicate stem of the feather is completely covered by the hot glue, making the fly very robust.

There’s a how-to video over at passionforflytying.blogspot.com.

Ghost Shrimp

This is a wonderfully simple, yet effective shrimp fly. The profile and colour is on point for mimicking sandshrimp (I’m talking Crangon septemspinosa here). I love that it’s such an effective imitation using so few materials, just craft fur, the eyes and some flash. The eye stalks double as a weedguard as well.

RPO Easy Shrimp

This is a colourful little fly with the typical shrimp profile. Love the hackle coming off the back, gives the fly a really cool effect. The legs are a product sold by Scierra that I have no affiliation to.

That’s it for my list of shrimp flies. Hopefully you found a few ideas to use in your own flying.