Chillimps

Salmon fly imitating shrimp and scuds, for salmon and sea trout. Beginner. Rolf Vilhelmsson, 1942.

Orange hackle-tip tail, a slim orange body ribbed with oval gold, an orange palmer hackle and a slightly longer orange front hackle.

Materials

Steps

  1. Attach thread Attach the thread at 86% of the way along the shank with a few turns and trim the tag end.
  2. Wrap thread Wrap the thread to the start of the bend in touching turns.
  3. Tie in: orange hackle tips Pick a feather about a quarter of the gape wide. Tie in the orange hackle tips so the tips reach well past the bend (1.7× the gape from the tie-in point), angled about 8° up from the shank. Two hackle tips, on top.
  4. Tie in: gold oval tinsel Tie in the gold oval tinsel with a few firm thread turns. Under the shank.
  5. Tie in: orange cock hackle Tie in the orange cock hackle with a few firm thread turns.
  6. Wrap thread Wrap the thread to 84% of the way along the shank in touching turns. A slim, even thread body.
  7. Wind: orange cock hackle Wind the orange cock hackle forward to 84% of the way along the shank in 6 turns. Open turns.
  8. Tie off: orange cock hackle Tie off the orange cock hackle with a few thread turns and trim the excess.
  9. Wind: gold oval tinsel Wind the gold oval tinsel forward to 84% of the way along the shank in 5 turns. Counter-wound through the hackle, to protect the stem.
  10. Tie off: gold oval tinsel Tie off the gold oval tinsel with a few thread turns and trim the excess.
  11. Tie in: orange cock hackle, a little longer Tie in the orange cock hackle, a little longer with a few firm thread turns.
  12. Wrap thread Wrap the thread to 90% of the way along the shank in touching turns.
  13. Wind: orange cock hackle, a little longer Wind the orange cock hackle, a little longer forward to 90% of the way along the shank in 3 turns. Stroke the fibres back.
  14. Tie off: orange cock hackle, a little longer Tie off the orange cock hackle, a little longer with a few thread turns and trim the excess.
  15. Whip finish Form a small head, whip finish with 5 turns and cut the thread. A small, neat head; varnish it.

History

Tied by Rolf Vilhelmsson (Ahrex and Michael Jensen spell it Vilhelmson) at the Valhalla inn by the Mörrum: in 1942 according to Ahrex, in the early 1940s according to a reader's account on GlobalFlyFisher. That account has Olle Törnblom and Sven Hallman there to see it, and Törnblom refining it later; Michael Jensen names all three as its makers. Vilhelmsson chose a strong colour because the river, clear as it is, is always tinged brown. The name stories are anecdote: one says it was meant to name the colour of a shrimp and came out as pidgin English after a whisky or two, with the spelling fixed by a hard-to-read last letter in the fishing journal. ABU brought out a version with Optic eyes in 1969, by which time the plain fly was famous on the Mörrum.

Fishing it

A salmon and sea-trout fly, fished like any wet fly for salmon. Ahrex also ties it on doubles. In small sizes on wet-fly hooks it is a Danish coastal fly for garfish (Martin Joergensen), and Ahrex suggests the same dressing on a saltwater hook for the cold season in the sea.

Sources