BEHOLD THE POWER OF SQUIRREL!!

[mike_richardson]

My new go to nymph is the grey squirrel nymph. I tie this on size 14 and 12. With the water levels dropping and getting clear the easy flashy flies are becoming tougher to get trout on (or they are getting used to my tricks)

I tie the squirrel nymph like this.

1) attach a bead
2) secure in 2 brown goose biots for tail and wrap them up to the bead and back to tail
3)start taking squirrel body hair and dub it to thorax
4)tie in thin skin in natural about 1/8" wide. Dub the thorax to bead and wrap thin skin over and secure. Fold the thin skin back and snip it off halfway on the wing case. Kind of gives it a quick stone fly look. You may need to add a bit of glue to secure it. whip finish and you are done

Super easy and takes 2 to 3 minutes to tie. It is devastating on trout. I will post pictures soon!

Brookies pound this fly!

 

[mike_richardson]

Here was a big rainbow that took a squirrel nymph for me last week. Caught and released with no harm

 

[lv2nymph]

Slab... l'd say it works, congrats on a fine bow Mike.

 

[whheff]

nice fish!

thanks for the pattern too.

 

[h0ll0whill]

do you have a picture of the pattern? I tyed a couple of these but like to compair them to a pic.

 

[mike_richardson]

IF you look in the help naming a patern post you can see them in the top left. These ones are monster i did for a montana trip but you can see the way they are tied. I use the body hair for dubbing not tail.

 

[dc410]

I've never personally used squirrel body hair for dubbing. However, I do know many folks who swear by it. Apparently it has the unique characteristic of retaining many small air bubbles while it is being fished giving it a very realistic appearance. Congrats on that beautiful rainbow!

 

[h0ll0whill]

Fished the pattern over the weekend. Got a nice 14 inch brownie and smaller brookie out of the Lil Lehigh. Thanks for introducing the pattern. Sure worked well.

 

[mike_richardson]

Glad to hear you had success. did you use thin skin on the wingcase as well? i thought about turkey or pheasant tail fibers but the thin skin is easier. just a little expensive. heard of guys using plastic bag and markers in place though.

 

[h0ll0whill]

I used turkey... Didn't have any new skin. But will probably pick some up and try it. Reminds me a lot of a hare's ear but the fur is a lot different. Thanks again and tight lines!

 

[mike_richardson]

Thanks for the report with the turkey.

As stated above the "bugginess" of the squirrel hair holds some air. I was trimming the fur back a bit in the early days but found the fly to be not as effective.

 

[WildTigerTrout]

I tie a fly that is similar but I use fox squirrel hair. I use the belly hair for the abdomen, hair off the side for the thorax and hair from top of the back for the tail. The wing case is wild turkey tail. It is VERY buggy looking and works well.