Squirrel Tails

The squirrel tail streamer. A long time ago when I was in the early days of fly fishing I loved fishing the Natchaug river in eastern Connecticut. I would finish work and head for the river and try for some of the browns and rainbows that were stocked in that beautiful river. It was on the Natchaug that I was introduced to the fly known simply as the "squirrel tail". The fly was simple using only a silver tinsel body and gray squirrel for the wing. The gentleman who introduced me to the fly made my evenings much more productive using the squirrel tail streamer. I have tied a few variations of the squirrel tail using different body materials and colors along with variations of squirrel colors. All of them have been tied on Mustad 3665A #10 hooks, which I think is the best hook for this fly.

The first flt uses a red floss body with a silver tinsel rib. The throat is yellow hackle and the wing bleached gray squirrel tail.

This fly uses a orange floss body, gold tinsel rib, an orange hackle throat and natural pine squirrel for the wing.

This fly takes on a "Royal" look. The tail is golden pheasant tippets, the butt is peacock, the body is red floss ending with more peacock at the front. The throat is brown hackle and the wing bleached gray squirrel.

Those Good Old Books

Writers, books and a long lasting effect on me. There are many books in my library and many magazines that sit on the various tables in my house. Most of these books and magazines are what I would classify as the best as far as information and the ability of the writer to convey his feelings at the time and his knowledge of the subject he is writing about. In this day of the internet where everything is available to us in just seconds we seemed to have lost that special feeling of going out and finding a book or a magazine we can thumb through and read and find something the internet cannot provide.

There are a few really good books that I would consider the best. Books that I read frequently and in fact several of them I look at daily. Some of the best books are the ones in the picture above. The pages of those books have inspired me to do some of the things I have done and I still am not through doing it all.

So perhaps I'll open one the books today and read something that may inspire me to do something I have yet to accomplish, and then again I just might get a great feeling reading the words I have read so many time before.

CT. Samall Stream That Looks LIke Shenandoah. Fishing North Country Spiders

After fly fishing for a long time I finally came around to a new, at least to me, technique. That is using a dry fly with a dropper. The idea of using this came to me while fishing a small stream Sunday morning. Small streams at this time it's a given that you fish a dry fly. I did this and while I took a brookie or two I missed many more. Not a big issue and I let it go. Later that day I realized that the reason I missed those fish was the fact they might be a bit skeptical about giving up their position. On Monday morning I found myself fishing the same pools, only this time I tied on a 12inch piece of tippet material to the dry fly which was a bushy caddis. The dropper was a North Country spider, a Smoke Fly.

The third cast and a home run was hit. The brookie took the spider.

It appeared that the fish would rise tentatively to the dry and not really take it. But a second or two they slammed the smoke fly.

The action continued for the 3 hours I fished the stream.

The king of the day. This stream has some very beautiful brook trout.

A North Country Spider...The "Smoke Fly"

"HIF" A Rangeley Streamer

I haven't tied a Rangeley streamer in some time. I have been a little slack in tying but those featherwing streamers have been center in my mind. I woke this morning and went downstairs to get a coffee. When I got back upstairs I put a Martinek Rangeley streamer hook in the vise and let it happen. An hour or so later the finished fly waited for it's final coats of Cellire. These long feathered flies still have that appeal to me as the first time I laid eyes on one many years ago.

"HIF"

"HIF"