I just received a generous gift of squirrel tails from HideHunter. As a newbie to the fly tying craft I’m not totally sure what to use them for. I’m thinking wings on small streamers, or claws for small crayfish. I’m sure they can be used for dubbing. Any other suggestions on how best to use them? Any tips for tying with them?
Great for wings on streamers http://globalflyfisher.com/patterns/simple_streamers/
You could tie Clousers with it, too. Tends to be “slippery” so it’s best to only use a little at a time; if you need a full wing, do it in increments.
Regards,
Scott
There is a pattern that calls for a peacock herl body, small gold wire rib and brown hen hackle with a wing of squirrel tail. Jut do a google and you will find more. Some are here in the archives.
Is that a “picket pin?”
There is a squirrel streamer that just uses nice tinsel tied on the shank, with a squirrel tail wing, with a nice head and painted eyes…I think it is called a Little Joe…or Lil’ Joe…it is a nice streamer, I’ve made a few in the past.
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/beginners/part9.php
size 14, olive dubbed body, squirrel tail for the wing and a couple of strands of red to make it shine, have had great success on gills and crappie.
this is a great does everything fly and easy to tie.
Eric
Yes, I tied about a doz last week but could not remeber what they were called.
I use squirrel tail instead of maribu on wooly buggers, call 'em “Squirrelly Buggers”. Good on the dead drift.
The Llama fly streamer variation tied with substitute gray squirrel tail looks good and is effective.
An interesting plus in squirrel tail hair is that does not compress and flair up.
Don’t forget the extra cement on the slippery hair as you tie it in.
Thanks guys. I guess I’ll play around with it and see what I can do. I’m thinking that a a little clouser type pattern might be the first thing I try.
Hi,
Used mostly for wings and tails. I’ve submitted a few fly of the weeks that use Squirrel tail (bluenose squirrel tail, Hammlim minnow, and in the Just Old Flies and Stuff column Fletcher’s Fuzzy Wuzzy, which predates the Wooly Bugger, but originally was tied as Valhalla 1 describes, but eventually got changed to a double hackle construction style). Squirrel tail hairs don’t compress, so they can be slippery (as mentioned earlier in the thread). I find if you throw a loop around just the hairs before then binding to the shank (for wings), helps to hold them together into a bundle and then add some cement to the cut ends before covering with thread helps to create a sturdier fly.
- Jeff
It is used for wings on steelhead patterns a lot. I find it to be the hardest and slickest of all the wing materials. It takes some getting used to.
Atlantic Salmon Hairwings…there are tons of patterns. Silver Down East, Blue Charm, Copper Killer, Rusty Rat, etc. are but a few examples. The possibilities are endless. It has been mentioned though that the hair is very smooth so you need to be careful when doing the wing. A combination of “cut the wing” on an angle so when you wrap the thread you get a few hairs at a time works well to lock in the hair, otherwise it will pull out VERY easily and you will be left with nothing.
Dwight
I forgot about the Yuk Bug with it’s grey squirrel tail tail and it’s cousin, the Pepperoni Pizza Yuk Bug, with fox squirrel tail tail. Great, buggy nymphs; if the stream has big stoneflies, these flies will get the fish’s attention.
Regards,
Scott
Also works good for crawdad claws.
Thanks guys.