HRO Flies - Pink Fox Squirrel by Nymphmeister

**jovalle** · 02-02-2009, 09:38 PM

So, I brought along my camera to the HRO tying session this past Saturday - hope the Nymphmeister doesn't mind my posting. He showed us some damn nice flies to tie, and gave quite a bit of color on when and how to fish them. Altogether, along with the free stew, well worth attending on a cold Saturday. Following are tying instructions with pictures, hopefully Nymphmeister will post materials and add to my instructions etc, I apologize if I got anything wrong, and, well, the pictures are somewhat grainy due to 6400 iso, a dirty lens, and no lamp. You can tell my flies vs Torrey's...

Pink Fox Squirrel:

Step 1: 8/0 brown thread, 4 wraps of .15 lead jammed in the brass bead

Step 2: Tie in two strips of rainbow flash type stuff (no idea what it is)

Step 3: Tie in brassie sized copper wire ribbing

Step 4: Touch dub red fox squirrel dubbing

Step 5: Dub loosely

Step 6: Counter rib, five to six turns

Step 7: Tie in and wrap on & half turns of pink chennille, tie off.

Sadly, the photos I took of Torrey's fly were shaky, but they were much better around the hackle than mine.

Hope you enjoy. More to follow...

**jhouseman** · 02-03-2009, 12:27 AM

Pink is a fantastic trigger. I've been tying quite a few of my go-to patterns with pink. Looks like there's still a collar of some sort to go on that fly, eh?

Wish I could join you guys! sounds like a great time. Tying flies, warm stew, etc. (yearning for the days when Blow had a real fly shop)

**Nymphmeister** · 02-06-2009, 11:42 PM

Thanks for posting the Pink Squirrel, a popular fly in WI but mostly unknown in CT and elsewhere.

Dressing-
#10-16 scud hook (#12-14 most popular)
brown thread
tail- 2 strands rainbow Krystal Flash (use pearl if you don't have rainbow)
bead- brass or tungsten matched to hook size- fly in pix is #14 TMC 2457 w/ 7/64" bead ((2.8mm)
dubbing- fox squirrel back fur (either dubbing blend or cut directly from fur piece)
collar- fine or medium shell pink chenille (fine used for fly in pix)

Original pattern has gold bead, I personally prefer copper, but you can use any color you prefer. Black would be the preferred color for "stealth", however I don't consider a fly with a tail of Krystal Flash and a collar of fluorescent chenille to be a "stealth" or subtle fly

.

Here is a link to one of the many dressings of the pattern, this one from the originator, John Bethke- it has a pic & info about the fly:
http://www.couleeregiontu.org/Tips.html

**Nymphmeister** · 02-07-2009, 02:13 AM

This fly would fall into the category of having a hot spot- the fluorescent chenille collar, and you could probably consider the tail to be a hot spot of sorts. The Europeans love to incorporate fluorescent hot spots into many of their nymphs, wets & streamers. You could play around with varying the color of the collar.

While I only have a little more than a year's experience with this fly, I can tell you so far that it seems to be an above average Rainbow trout fly. It catches brown trout too. And of course, with the egg-like chenille behind the bead it can be good anytime you might expect an egg pattern to work (just before & during spawing, in murky water, in the Winter, and over freshly stocked trout).