Bodkin / Patterns

Al's Rat

Nymph · Trout · Intermediate · 1 version

Reference Recipe

  • Hook Standard dry/nymph hook (e.g. TMC 100), 18-22
  • Thread Gray 8/0 (70 denier)

Materials

  • Body Gray tying thread (the thread itself)
  • Rib Fine silver wire (5-6 turns)
  • Thorax Gray muskrat dubbing (sparse pinch)

How to tie it

  1. Mount the small hook and start gray thread behind the eye.
  2. Lay a smooth thread base to the bend, then build a slim, slightly tapered abdomen forward with the thread alone; keep it half the bulk you think.
  3. Tie in a strand of fine silver wire at the bend.
  4. Rib the wire forward in 5-6 evenly spaced turns to segment the body, then helicopter off the tag.
  5. Dub a sparse pinch of gray muskrat and form a small thorax over the front third.
  6. Whip finish a neat head; no tail and no wing, that plain profile is the whole point.

Tying videos

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