Bodkin / Patterns

Bornholdt's Golden Squirrel

Streamer · Trout · Advanced · 1 version

Tyer Recipe

  • Hook Long-shank streamer bent into a keel hook (e.g. Daiichi 2340 bent with pliers), #6-10
  • Thread Black 70 denier

Materials

  • Mylar tinsel, medium (body) Gold (gold/silver two-sided) (1 length)
  • Soft hackle fibers (throat) Red grizzly soft hackle (2 small tufts (red hen preferred))
  • Squirrel tail hair (wing) Natural deer hair (small-to-medium stacked tuft)
  • UV resin or clear lacquer (head) Clear uv resin (1 coat)
  • Paint and marker (eyes) White with black pupil (1 per side)

How to tie it

  1. Make the keel hook if needed: put two roughly 30-degree bends in a long-shank streamer hook with needle-nose pliers, and pinch the barb. This fly rides point-up.
  2. Start black thread toward the rear and catch in the Mylar tinsel gold-side toward the hook, then spiral the thread forward to just past the front bend.
  3. Wrap the tinsel forward in slightly overlapping turns to just past the front bend, tie off, and fold the tag back over itself with a couple of locking wraps.
  4. Tie in two tufts of red hackle fibers as a throat on the underside (the keel side), extending a little past the rear bend.
  5. Flip the hook in the vise so the point rides up.
  6. Stack a small-to-medium tuft of squirrel tail hair and measure it to just past the bend of the hook.
  7. Cord up the thread by spinning the bobbin clockwise and bind the wing in with a few tight wraps, leaving room behind the eye for a large head; trim the butts at an angle.
  8. Build a large bullet-shaped thread head, whip finish, and coat with UV resin, rotating the vise while curing for an even head.
  9. Dab a white paint eye on each side of the head with a trimmed toothpick, then add a black pupil with a Sharpie.

Tying videos

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