Hook Standard length barbless dry fly hook, #10-18 (tied here in #12)
Thread Tan 70 denier
Materials
Hackle fibers Cream hackle fibers (Ten to twelve for the tail)
Blended dubbing: muskrat underfur and red wool Gray/red blend, roughly 60% muskrat to 40% red wool (A two-inch noodle)
Dry fly hackle Golden badger (or cream/light ginger with the stem centre darkened by a black marker) (One feather)
Head cement Clear head cement (A drop)
How to tie it
Make the dubbing blend first: cut red wool yarn into half-inch pieces, pull the guard hairs out of a few tufts of muskrat, and run roughly 60% muskrat to 40% red wool through a coffee grinder. Bag the leftovers. One batch dresses half a dozen flies. If it blends unevenly, either pick out the lumps or accept a variegated body.
If you do not have golden badger hackle, take a cream or light ginger feather and darken the centre of the stem with a black marker.
Start tan thread in the middle of the shank and tie in ten or twelve cream hackle fibers as a tail about one body length long, then wrap back to the start of the bend.
Wax the thread, spin about a two-inch noodle of the muskrat/red wool blend and wrap the body forward to the hackle tie-in point just behind the eye area.
Take a wrap or two back and tie in the golden badger hackle; trim the excess stem and any stray guard hairs.
Wrap four or five turns of hackle for a fairly heavy collar, tie it off with a couple of wraps and trim.
Pull the forward-facing barbs back with your fingers to make room, whip finish, then trim any barbs crossing the eye and pick out stray guard hairs.