streamers

Squirrel and Herl Bugger

/ Tim Burns / Leave a comment

Tying up some streamers tonight. I hope to swing some of these through some of the deeper holes in the Saco River. Until now, I would have needed snowshoes to get to the river. Warmer temps and some rain are doing a good job melting the snow.

This is the Squirrel and Herl Bugger. It is basically a wooly bugger with a pine squirrel zonker strip wing in place of the marabou tail. This is a size 8, 3x long streamer hook, peacock herl, and an olive-dyed grizzly hackle. I use an olive-dyed pine squirrel zonker strip for the wing. you could use a natural-colored strip as well. The squirrel strip has just the right length fibers for this size fly. This is an easy fly-to-tie so you can tie up quite a few before you finish your beer.

I think this should look like the sculpin and minnows that swim around the rocking bottom of the Saco. Wish me luck.

Soft Hackle Streamers

/ Tim Burns / 1 Comment

Here is another sample of what we tied at Bugs and Brews. Steve Angers from North Country Angler led the class, and we tied a Jack Gartside Soft Hackle Streamer. We tied this pattern before we tied the Game Changer, which is also tied in the round. I am really enjoying these streamers tied in the round. I had become so stuck tying traditional streamers with a tinsel body and a hair wing, like the Black Nose Dace and Mickey Finn. The Soft Hackle Streamer is a much easier fly to tie than the Game Changer. I think I will tie a bunch up in different colors and sizes to fill my boxes.