Fluorescent tying thread or floss (butt) Fluorescent pink tying thread or floss (Enough for 15-20 touching turns)
Oval tinsel (rib) Silver oval tinsel (Small, one strand)
Wool or Uni-Yarn (body) Medium green (Highlander green) (One strand, about 8 in)
Squirrel tail (wing) Natural grey hair (One small stacked bunch)
Saddle hackle (collar) Green saddle hackle (One feather)
Head cement Clear head cement (One drop)
How to tie it
Set the salmon hook in the vise and run red thread from behind the eye back to a point just short of above the hook point, then let it hang.
Tie in the small Mylar tinsel and wind a long flat tag, roughly a hook-gap in length, back and then forward over the rear of the shank; tie off and trim. Make it longer than a normal tag, because the front half of it gets covered.
Half-hitch the red thread and cut it away. Start the fluorescent pink thread on the front half of the Mylar and wind it in touching turns to form a hot pink butt over the front half of the tag; half-hitch, cut it off, and re-start the red thread just ahead of the butt. The Mylar underneath keeps the fluorescent colour from going muddy.
Tie in the small silver oval tinsel rib at the front edge of the butt.
Tie in the green wool at the same point (running it from a bobbin makes it easier to judge how much you need) and wind the body forward to the 85% point in three passes. Hold the wool tight as you cross the tie-in bump and slacken tension as you come off it so the wool fluffs out and hides the step. Tie off and trim.
Take one turn of the oval rib hard against the back of the body, then spiral it forward in five or six evenly spaced turns; tie off at the front of the body and trim.
Stack a small bunch of squirrel tail and measure it to reach back to the end of the tag. Trim the butts square, set it on top with a soft loop, then bind down tight.
Tie in the green saddle hackle at the front of the wing, stroke the fibres back so they lay rearward, and take two or three turns as a collar, pushing any forward-facing fibres back as you go; tie off and break the stem away.
Build a full, bright red head with the tying thread (the red head is part of the attraction, so do not leave it wimpy) whip finish and coat with head cement.