Activity Tie Along Meeting with Corey Thelan

Corey will be leading the January tie along activity from the wilds of Wisconsin! He will be directing us all in tying the Pink Squirrel and Rusty’s Spinner.

———————————————————————————————————–

Here are the two flies I will be tying.

Pink Squirrel:

Hook:  Heavy Curved Scud Hook, Size 10-14

Thread:  6/0 Black

Bead:  Gold, matched to hook size

Tail:  Pearl Krystal Flash

Wire:   Medium Copper

Abdomen Dubbing: Hare’s Ear Natural Grey or Tan

Thorax Dubbing:  Hot Pink.  I use Senyo’s Laser Dubbing with a bit of pink ice dubbing mixed in.

The Pink Squirrel was originally developed by John Bethke for the Wisconsin Driftless streams.  The original fly has a thorax tied with shrimp pink chenille and is tied very chunky.  I find dubbing is a bit easier to work with.  It mimics a pregnant scud and will work anywhere with a scud or freshwater shrimp population.

Rusty’s Spinner:

Hook:  Daiichi 1280 or similar, size 10-14

Thread: 6/0 Brown or Black

Tail:  Moose Maine, 4-5 Hairs

Body:  Natural Deer Hair

Wing:  Grizzly Hen Hackle Points

Hackle:  Brown and Grizzly

This is an Au Sable pattern developed by Rusty Gates.  The deer hair body and hackle make the fly very buoyant and the hen hackle wings give it an excellent spinner profile.  Tied in a larger size it mimics a Brown Drake, Hex, or even an Iso. In smaller sizes they imitate a variety of brown mayflies. In my opinion, the slim profile and natural materials make this is one of the prettiest dry fly patterns.