Zonked Squirrel Streamer By Jeff Pierce (Dr. Fish) Mustad, USA
This Zonked Squirrel Streamer is yet
another very easy fly to tie but is also
VERY effective. I was first turned onto
this fly by my buddy TL at Wapsi Fly in
Mountain Home, AR. TL gave me one of these
to fish on the Norfork River right behind
his house one evening. He said, “Tie this
one once it starts to get pretty dark and
swing it through the deeper runs and HOLD
ON tight.” Well, on my 5th cast with that
fly I hooked into a trout that took me into
my backing 3 times. After more than 10 minutes,
I landed my largest ever resident (non-migratory)
Rainbow Trout of 24"! Since then, this fly
has accounted for several other big fish and
it has found a permanent and important place
in my fly box.
Materials for the Zonked Squirrel Streamer
Hook: Mustad Signature R74 in sizes 2 - 8 (size 4 is used here).
Thread: 8/0 to match the color of the Squirrel (dark Olive/brown here).
Body and Tail: Wapsi’s Zonked Pine Squirrel in Olive.
Head: 3/16th Tungsten Conehead with 3D eyes.
Throat: Hedron’s Wing N’ Flash in Red.
Tying Instructions: Zonked Squirrel Streamer
- Slide the conehead onto the hook and
secure the hook as shown with the shank
pointing straight down. Apply a drop of
Loon UV Knot Sense into the concave side
of the cone. Do not use too much as we
want to keep some room inside the cone
head to allow the materials to slide in
when finishing up. More on this is STEP 5.
I want to take a moment to discuss the Loon
UV Knot Sense. This is a GREAT product that
most fly tiers could find some neat applications
for. I was introduced to it back in January
and have been using it a lot ever since. When
you apply it, it is something like thin epoxy
before curing. You can easily work with it but
once you hit it with the UV light, the product
becomes rock hard and crystal clear. I use it
all the time to finish off saltwater fly heads
(instead of Epoxy or other compounds), the shell
for a scud back, wing cases, freshwater streamer
heads, securing coneheads like on this fly and
soon and so on. I’m trying to figure out how I
lived without something like this all these years.
While tying at some of the shows I have gotten
several other tiers very interested and “hooked”
on it as well. Be sure to ask your local shop
about it.
- Use one hand to properly position the
conehead. Use your other hand to shine the
Loon UV Power Light onto the Knot Sense to
instantly cure it and lock the conehead into
position. The photo inset shows the 3 UV
beams that do the work.
- Start behind the conehead and wrap a base
of thread covering the shank back to the start
of the bend.
- Cut a piece of the Zonked Pine Squirrel
at a length of around 5 inches. A slightly
longer piece is OK. When securing one end
as the tail, I like to have a tail that is
equal to the overall length of the hook I’m
tying on. To secure it, I use my bodkin and
part the hair in one spot so that my thread
only wraps over the skin and not the fur.
After 5 secure wraps, lift the squirrel out
of the way and continue wrapping the thread
to the base of the conehead. Apply a drop
of head cement to the wraps securing the tail.
This will help keep the fly from coming apart
when the teeth of a large trout contacts the
thread here.
- Now start palmering the squirrel zonker
around the hook shank toward the conehead.
When doing so, try not to wrap over the fur
as you go. I use a small bowl of water to
moisten fingers while doing this. I can then
wet the fur and have it all standing up
straight and keep it from getting caught
under the wraps as I go.
When I get the squirrel wrapped to the cone
head I make 1 or 2 wraps at the base of the
cone head and then use my bodkin to slide
that final wrap up and into the conehead.
Hopefully you left enough room to slide this
in as well as allowing the final thread wraps
to slide up and inside. This not only gives
the fly a great finished look, it also protects
the thread from getting cut by those big trout teeth.
- Get a small amount of Wing N’ Flash and
loop it around your thread. You can now
precisely position this as the gill on the
underside of the fly. After securing it
with a few wraps, give it a whip-finish and
try to get the thread to slide up inside the
conehead. The more durable your flies are,
the longer they last and the less you have
to tie. Once done, a drop of head cement
will do the trick.
For added realism I then like to add a couple
3D eyes to the conehead and then apply a coat
of Hard as Hull to the head. I’ve said it many
times before and I’ll say it again. There are
many fish out there with false eye spots on
their tails. This is to confuse the predators.
So, if millions of years of evolution say that
predators key on their preys eyes, my streamers
will have eyes on them. Once the eyes are on,
the fly is finished and ready to fish.
FISHING SUGGESTIONS
You fish this fly like any other streamer
pattern. My best action has come when
fishing it three quarters downstream and
letting is swing with short strips. In
heavy current, a three quarter upstream
cast with a mend to get it get down a few
inches, followed by quick, short strips has
also worked very well. For off color water
conditions I’ll often tie up some with nickel
plated coneheads for a bit more flash and this
has made a difference on a few occasions.
I have found this fly to be very effective
for numerous coldwater species such as Brown,
Cutthroat, Cutbow, Rainbow, Lake and Brook
Trout as well as Dolly Varden. A 16lb Brown
Trout fell victim to this fly this past November
on a local Great Lakes Tributary. That was one
of many that day that came to the net and were
released on this fly. I have also taken some
nice Steelhead and Coho on this fly. The Coho
love it tied in Pink. On the warm water side,
Bass just love it along with Carp and assorted
panfish. Fact is you would be very hard pressed
to find a fish that will NOT eat this fly.
Here is a nice 20" Snake River Fine Spotted
Cutthroat that could not resist this fly back
in August of '04. The night before our fishing
the area around Jackson Hole, WY got over an
inch of rain and all of the streams and rivers
were high and muddy. Fishing was far less than
ideal but the Zonked Squirrel Streamer proved
to be THE fly that day. While the group
struggled to catch any fish, I pounded on
large Cutt’s swinging this fly (nickel head
version) through the murky waters. I lost
track of the number of fish over 17" that day
and with the high water they were a real handful.
Give the Zonked Squirrel Streamer a try and
you too will find a home for it in your box
of ‘go to’ flies. ~ Dr. Fish
About Jeff Pierce:
Jeff Pierce, AKA “Dr. Fish” is the Sales
Manager for O. Mustad & Son and Partridge
of Redditch. When he can find the time you
can rest assured that he’ll be chasing
something with fins. Whether it’s Yellowfin
Tuna off Louisiana, monster Bonefish in Florida
Bay or Brown Trout on his local waters you can
bet that Jeff is no doubt casting flies at
something that will bend a rod. . . .
For more of his innovative flies check out the bottom of the
Mustad Sponsor page!
Originally published May 16, 2005 on Fly Anglers Online by Dr. Fish.