Bodkin / Patterns

Muddler Minnow

Streamer · Trout · Smallmouth Bass · Largemouth Bass · Pike · Advanced · 2 versions

Muddler Minnow fly

Classic Recipe

  • Hook Streamer, 4x long, 4-10
  • Thread Brown 6/0

Materials

  • Tail Mottled turkey quill (1 slip)
  • Body Flat gold tinsel (wrapped)
  • Wing Mottled turkey quill slips + squirrel tail (layered)
  • Collar Spun deer hair (flared)
  • Head Spun deer hair (clipped to shape)

How to tie it

  1. Mount the 4x long hook, start thread at the bend.
  2. Tie in a slip of mottled turkey quill for the tail, about half a shank length.
  3. Wrap flat gold tinsel forward to the 65% mark in smooth, flat, touching turns.
  4. Tie in a sparse squirrel tail underwing, tips to the tail.
  5. Tie in matched turkey quill slips over it as the overwing, concave sides in.
  6. Spin a clump of deer hair as the collar, letting the natural tips flare back over the wing. Don't trim these.
  7. Spin and pack more deer hair to the eye. Pack hard between clumps; the head's density is its buoyancy and its shape.
  8. Trim the head to a rough bullet, full on top and sides, flatter below. Leave it a little ragged; Gapen's original was anything but neat.
  9. Whip finish.

Substitutions

  • Head instead of Spun deer hair: Fish Skull Sculpin Head — Pre-shaped, much faster to tie; Spun caribou hair — Slightly finer, same technique
  • Tail instead of Mottled turkey quill: Mottled Thin Skin — Much more durable; Mottled hen saddle feather — Natural mottling, softer
  • Wing instead of Mottled turkey quill slips + squirrel tail: Pine squirrel zonker strip — More movement, buggier; Marabou underwing + turkey slips — Adds bulk and movement
  • Body instead of Flat gold tinsel: Gold Diamond Braid — More durable than tinsel; Gold Mylar tubing — Slips over hook, fast; Pearl tinsel — Flashier, different baitfish look

Other versions

1 more in the app: Conehead.

Tying videos

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