Poking around my flyboxes I came across some stuff from the mid 90’s, including a bunch of Casual Dress nymphs. Brought back memories of fishing Rock Creek for the first time - catching some nice 'bows/browns, losing a boatload of nymphs, and taking a fall up above Norton CG that eventually required reconstructive knee surgery. Always thought they were cool flies although I haven’t tied any in a long time; grabbed some muskrat and ostrich herl, my copy of Tying & Fishing the Fuzzy Nymphs (bless you Polly Rosborough for such a great pattern) and took a trip in the Wayback Machine.
hook - Mustad 9671 #8
thread - Danville 6/0 black
tail - Muskrat
body - Muskrat
collar - Muskrat
head - Ostrich herl
Part 1
Mash the barb and tie in thread
cut a clump of muskrat (I prefer keeping it on the skin until I need it) with guard hairs (comb out a bit of the underfur)
cut out some more fur and mix it up (this went into the coffee grinder)
take the fur between your palms and roll it into a tapered noodle
create a dubbing loop at the tail tie-in
tie in the fur noodle by the tip
trap it in the loop and spin it until it’s nice and tight
wrap the body up to the 75% mark (looks like I could have wound it a little tighter to get better defined segmentation)
tie down and trim excess
grab one more clump for the collar (gives me a chance to use one of those Pettijean clips I got years ago); you want the guard hairs
