Hi Tim, really nice presentation. That's a beautiful piece of "vintage" muskrat. I let a local young man trap my property and as a thank you he gave me a full pelt and some squirrel tails and turkey feathers. Thanks for the cording tip, and I won't wait till Friday to try this. ;-) 👍
Hi Tim. Great video. We tie the Casual Dress on a longer streamer hook and mount the second clump in the middle on top as a kind of fin. Deadly that way for bass and steelhead. I love the way you do it though and will try it. Thanks.
nice! my wife's grandfather gave me several full muskrat pelts from his trapping days, so I've got another use for it now. incidentally, it's a great material for many nymph patterns like hair's ears (especially the fur from the mask), bodies for soft hackles, etc. and of course bodies for Adams dries.
Tim, I have always wondered about the correct proportions of the Casual Dress Nymph. Been tying it (since the '70s) on a short shank hook such that the "tail" of the fly is 3 hook-lengths long (1/3 guard-hairs, 2/3 underfur - none removed) to represent the tail and abdomen of the nymph (it wiggles enticingly when tied like this especially if the hook is weighted a bit - one layer of copper wire worked best) and the body is proportioned so that the hook shank is 1/4 dubbing, 1/2 fur collar (for the thorax) and 1/4 herl (for the head). Tied like this it looks very much like a nymph. I have tied the Casual Dress Nymph with muskrat, beaver, otter and mink fur with excellent results - the fur from "land animals" just doesn't seem to work as well. Think it is to do with the density of the underfur, and the sparseness of the guard-hairs. Curious what other people do. Cheers! Hank
Most tyers don't dub as Polly suggests. His spun noodle method trapped significantly more air in the material resulting in more strikes at rest. It was demonstrated to me by Polly in his kitchen sink. Let the nymph sink, allow the escaping air bubbles to impart action or rock the nymph.
Jonathan Weinbrenner I wish he would but there’s better patterns out there I believe but if you really want to tie it he ties it about 12-18 adds some lead wire to the middle of the standard nymph hook uses some brown thread ties in wire to the start of the hook bend then takes tan hackle and ties that all the way down to the hook bend then some tan-grey dubbing for the body wrap the hackle then the wire cut the top and size of the hackle off from around the hook whip finish and use pliers and squish the body flat
A very good question. I prefer weightless flies where ever possible because they behave so much more naturally underwater. Nearly all of the trout foods we are trying to imitate have very little weight and are almost neutrally buoyant. To me, adding weight to a fly simply takes the "life" out of it. That said, flies that don't get down to where the fish are, close to the bottom about 90% of the time, are pretty useless. To get this fly down, I'll fish it off of a sink tip, put on a couple of split shot 18" above the fly or tow it behind a weighted fly. Hope this helps.
tightlinevideo thanks, I started adding split shot two years ago, productivity went way up, I tied a variant pattern with a sheep wool dubbing loop instead of ostrich, then comb it through the muskrat, black, olive and rust looks great.
Wapsi used to sell Australian opossum on the hide; I believe that would work. They may still carry it, I haven't ordered directly from them in decades.
Old school! Got soul, thanks for the reminder, will be tying some up tonight 👍
Hi Tim, really nice presentation. That's a beautiful piece of "vintage" muskrat. I let a local young man trap my property and as a thank you he gave me a full pelt and some squirrel tails and turkey feathers. Thanks for the cording tip, and I won't wait till Friday to try this. ;-) 👍
Definitely going to try this one up looks good
Love that “drawer in the back”
Great pattern tim.thanks for sharing!
Hi Tim. Great video. We tie the Casual Dress on a longer streamer hook and mount the second clump in the middle on top as a kind of fin. Deadly that way for bass and steelhead. I love the way you do it though and will try it. Thanks.
Great pattern ! I’ve been fishing these for decades and they still work, try adding a gold bead head ! Makes a good fly even better.
I love the subtle jokes at the end of each video
nice! my wife's grandfather gave me several full muskrat pelts from his trapping days, so I've got another use for it now. incidentally, it's a great material for many nymph patterns like hair's ears (especially the fur from the mask), bodies for soft hackles, etc. and of course bodies for Adams dries.
Tim, I have always wondered about the correct proportions of the Casual Dress Nymph. Been tying it (since the '70s) on a short shank hook such that the "tail" of the fly is 3 hook-lengths long (1/3 guard-hairs, 2/3 underfur - none removed) to represent the tail and abdomen of the nymph (it wiggles enticingly when tied like this especially if the hook is weighted a bit - one layer of copper wire worked best) and the body is proportioned so that the hook shank is 1/4 dubbing, 1/2 fur collar (for the thorax) and 1/4 herl (for the head). Tied like this it looks very much like a nymph. I have tied the Casual Dress Nymph with muskrat, beaver, otter and mink fur with excellent results - the fur from "land animals" just doesn't seem to work as well. Think it is to do with the density of the underfur, and the sparseness of the guard-hairs. Curious what other people do. Cheers! Hank
so cool. i just got back from the shop with some muskrat. so crazy
Hi Tim, what are your thoughts on applying a bead to the pattern? Thoughts on how it would affect the fly? Thanks for all you do. Don
don't know where I would find muskrat but I think I could make my racoon tail work. nice tie.
Most tyers don't dub as Polly suggests. His spun noodle method trapped significantly more air in the material resulting in more strikes at rest. It was demonstrated to me by Polly in his kitchen sink. Let the nymph sink, allow the escaping air bubbles to impart action or rock the nymph.
Any chance of a tutorial for the Humphrey's cress bug? A pattern I've wanted to learn.
Jonathan Weinbrenner I wish he would but there’s better patterns out there I believe but if you really want to tie it he ties it about 12-18 adds some lead wire to the middle of the standard nymph hook uses some brown thread ties in wire to the start of the hook bend then takes tan hackle and ties that all the way down to the hook bend then some tan-grey dubbing for the body wrap the hackle then the wire cut the top and size of the hackle off from around the hook whip finish and use pliers and squish the body flat
Tim, any reason you wouldn’t weight this nymph? I can’t see the practicality if you can’t get it down fast for moving water.
A very good question. I prefer weightless flies where ever possible because they behave so much more naturally underwater. Nearly all of the trout foods we are trying to imitate have very little weight and are almost neutrally buoyant. To me, adding weight to a fly simply takes the "life" out of it. That said, flies that don't get down to where the fish are, close to the bottom about 90% of the time, are pretty useless. To get this fly down, I'll fish it off of a sink tip, put on a couple of split shot 18" above the fly or tow it behind a weighted fly. Hope this helps.
tightlinevideo thanks, I started adding split shot two years ago, productivity went way up, I tied a variant pattern with a sheep wool dubbing loop instead of ostrich, then comb it through the muskrat, black, olive and rust looks great.
Put a gold bead head on it and you’ll see a difference.
Could you use a dai Riki 700 size 12
Sure.
could this pattern also be tied using squirrel and rabbit
see above...
Is this a streamer or a nymph
Kinda both. Serious crane fly larva imitation, maybe even better than a mop.
tightlinevideo wow 😳 I love the mop and if it's better it needs to be in my box
How would you fish this I strip then pause and let it float up and such
yes
Substitute for the muskrat?
J Hansen ^
Natural gray rabbit fur has a similar colour, but it doesn't have the guard hairs. I think I that the guard hairs could be substituted with red fox.
J Hansen I've done something simular with zonked rabbit strips. squirrel could also work and the ostrich is not necessary.
Wapsi used to sell Australian opossum on the hide; I believe that would work. They may still carry it, I haven't ordered directly from them in decades.
EBay has Muskrat fur on hides.
I ALWAYS WONDERED WHERE DUBBING CAME FROM