PINE SQUIRREL CHEATER
John Scott Rigby brings us another great fly.
"Simple, easy to tie, durable and effective; The Pine Squirrel Cheater."
PINE SQUIRREL CHEATER
John Scott Rigby brings us another great fly.
"Simple, easy to tie, durable and effective; The Pine Squirrel Cheater."
Hi John,
I really like this pattern. I have a few tied up and ready for when I hit some spots back in New Zealand. I know some places with fiesty browns that would just love these.
- Jeff
Hi
This is a great fly for big Browns. I have had great sucess with it on the Salmon River in New York. I believe this fly would work on Browns any where.
Very nice job with the story and with the tying instructions.
Flap Jack
Flap Jack -
Greetings and welcome to the Bulletin Board from Eastern Idaho / Western Montana.
Sounds like you have come up with the same fly, or found a source for it ??
Another BB member, NightAngler1 from Ridgedale MO ties a very similar fly, adding flash, and a couple other guys that I know here in SE Idaho also tie their own version of a pine squirrel zonker streamer.
Some people compare the P.S.C. to John Barr's Slumpbuster, but that fly is way more complicated. Guess it would be hard to sell a strip of zonker for $2.00 a pop ??
Also, this is a great trout fly, not just for browns. And I think some of our friends in the midwest have fished it successfully for bass. If it eats sculpins and / or baitfish, it will eat this fly if presented properly.
John
P.S. Hate to say it, but the last time I looked at Wapsi zonked pine squirrel skins, just a couple weeks ago, the quality was very poor. Out of seven or eight skins I inspected, there was only one really good one, and a couple that were almost passable. Take a good look at the number and length of zonked strips and the thickness and length of the hair before you buy. Wapsi's small packs of zonkers tend to be pretty good quality, but are kind of pricey if you plan to tie many flies.
The fish are always right.
Could you please tell us the type and size of hook you use for this fly?
Thanks for sharing this with us! I look forward to trying it out.
John, I'm glad the PSC made it to the FOTW.
Since you sent me that first little package of pine squirrel zonker strips and I tyed a few of those following your recipe, I have caught numerous trouts in the Sierras and even a few in the desert waters on it.
I have since found a decent source for squirrel zonkers and have a box of a couple dozen PSCs. Thanks for helping me along.
I'm either going to, coming from or thinking about fishing. Jim
Terry -
I use a size 6 Dai-Riki 280 2XL hopper hook for this fly. But any streamer hook will do just fine. Using the micro pine squirrel zonker strips, I've tied small streamers on size 12 2XL nymph hooks and had some success with them in a couple smaller streams.
The Wapsi product comes in natural and a number of colors. I prefer the sculpin olive, but have done well with black, and more recently, with brown. I'm guessing the natural might prove really good for some baitfish imitations, but haven't tried it yet.
John
The fish are always right.
I have used this fly with great success up here in SWAB..
It is a great pattern and will always have a place in my fly box..
As in the Army, I have never had a bad day Fly fishing, some damn uncomfortable days but never a bad one!
Everyone must believe in something and I believe in Fly Fishing and Fly Tying and believe I will
Member of Project Healing Waters & Fly Fishing Canada, Project Healing Waters Canada
Great fly I use a very similar fly but instead of wrapping the strip I tie in the tail and then using a dubbing loop I mix the squirrel hair from the strip with some crystal flash to create the body