Bodkin / Patterns

Big Eye Tarpon Furnace/Squirrel

Attractor · Tarpon · Intermediate · 1 version

Reference Recipe

  • Hook Saltwater tarpon hook, 1/0 to 3/0
  • Thread Brown 3/0 (210 denier)

Materials

  • Tail Furnace (or grizzly) saddle hackles (4, splayed)
  • Flash Copper/pearl flash (4-6 strands)
  • Collar Gray squirrel tail (1 clump, spun)
  • Eyes Large stick-on, silver (1 pair)

How to tie it

  1. Start brown thread at the rear third of the shank, leaving the forward shank bare in tarpon style.
  2. Bind in four splayed furnace saddle hackles as the tail at the bend with a few strands of flash along the sides.
  3. Stack a clump of gray squirrel tail and distribute it around the shank just ahead of the tail as a collar.
  4. Take a few thread turns to flare the squirrel evenly, then sweep it back over the tail.
  5. Set the large eyes at the front of the collar and build a tapered thread head.
  6. Whip finish and coat the head with UV resin; this Cockroach-style muted coloring shines in clear water.

← All fly patterns