Bucktail (topping) White bucktail (Sparse clump, stacked and thinned by half)
How to tie it
Mount the streamer hook and lay a smooth base of red thread from behind the eye back to the start of the bend.
Tail: pull 15-20 yellow saddle hackle fibers, even the tips, and tie them in at the bend a little longer than one hook gap. Bind the butts forward and trim.
Butt: strip the core of a piece of small red chenille and tie it in at the rear. Take two or three touching wraps to build a short, pronounced red butt, tie off and trim.
Tie in the flat Mylar tinsel at the front edge of the butt with the gold side facing the hook so the gold shows when you flip it to wrap, then tie in the purple chenille at the same point.
Advance the thread to about the 75% point (stop short, because the throat and a lot of hair still have to go on) and wrap the purple chenille forward in touching turns to the thread. Tie off and trim.
Rib: spiral the Mylar tinsel forward over the body in the same direction as the chenille, letting the turns settle into the grooves. Secure it at the front, fold the tag back and take a couple of wraps in front of and behind the fold to lock it, then trim.
Throat: invert the hook or work underneath and tie in a clump of yellow saddle hackle fibers reaching to about the hook point. Set the length with loose wraps, then lock it down and trim the butts close.
Underwing: stack a generous clump of squirrel tail, pulling out the short hairs, and measure it to the hook bend. Just short of the tail. Anchor it with a pinch wrap and two or three tight wraps, then trim the butts at an angle to start a tapered head.
Topping: stack white bucktail and thin it by about half. Measure it the same length as the squirrel or a hair longer, tie it in on top with a couple of medium wraps, then take one or two wraps under the wing to prop it up before locking it down.
Trim the butt ends at a slant, wrap a smooth tapered head back up to the eye, whip finish and finish with head cement or UV resin.