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EDUCATION: ONLINE LESSONS:
LESSON 8

 The Red Fox Squirrel Hair Nymph (miscellaneous nymphs)
from Skip Morris' book, "The Art of Tying the Nymph, 1993"

Long name for a simple nymph, but Dave Whitlock is well known as a keen nymph fisher, so his namesake fly must be taken seriously. Because the Red Fox Squirrel Hair Nymph resembles a lot of aquatic insects without imitating any in particular, it is a true attractor fly.

I first saw the Red Fox Squirrel Hair Nymph-then called the Dave's Red-Fox Squirrel Hair Nymph-in The Masters On The Nymph, published in 1979. In The Art of the Trout Fly, published in 1988, Dave described a different Red Fox Squirrel Hair Nymph; it had gotten simpler. Gone were the swiss-straw wing case and partridge hackle (and "Dave's" and a hyphen). Dave now recommends the one or two turns of dark partridge (or hen saddle) only for the largest hook sizes.

Blending the red-fox squirrel hair and antron for the abdomen can be accomplished in a fur blender or by hand blending. If you are trimming the back fur from the pelt for blending, be sure to leave a patch of fur on the hide for tails.

To my knowledge, Dave's use of both squirrel belly and back fur in a single fly is unique. This hair gives the Red Fox Squirrel Hair Nymph its unusual red-and-brown appearance, and is perhaps part of its effectiveness.

Dave includes a layer of lead in his pattem for this fly, but you can tie the Dave's Squirrel Hair Nymph with more lead than this, less, or none at all. Fish the Dave's Squirrel Hair Nymph deep or shallow, dead drift or with imparted motion.


RED FOX SQUIRREL HAIR NYMPH

HOOK: Heavy wire, 2X or 3X long, sizes 18 to 2 (the hook shown is a Mustad 9671)
THREAD: Black 6/0 or 8/0 (for the largest hooks, 3/0 would be good)
WEIGHT: Lead wire
TAIL: Red-fox-squirrel back guard hair and underfur
RIB: Fine oval gold tinsel
ABDOMEN: A blend of one part red-fox-squirrel belly fur and one part a similar shade of antron dubbing (or orion)
THORAX: Red-fox-squirrel back guard hair and underfur

1. Add lead, and thread secure it as usual if you want a weighted fly. Snip a tuft of guard hair and fur from the back portion of a red-fox-squirrel pelt. Tie in the tuft at the bend as a tail.
2. Tie in the gold tinsel at the bend. Dub a tapered abdomen up two-thirds of the shank.
3. Wind the tinsel up the abdomen in five to seven ribs. Secure the tinsel's end with thread, and trim the tinsel.
4. Dub a rough, full thorax of guard hair and fur from a red-fox squirrel's back. Form and complete the usual thread head.
5. Here is a Red Fox Squirrel Hair Nymph with one tum of partridge added at the front of the thorax. To make Dave's optional dubbed head, lay a loop of fine leader material over the thread head and secure the loop with two or three thread turns. The loop should project off the eye.
6. Add some head cement-Dave's Flexament, epoxy, whatever-to a couple of inches of thread; add the head cement sparingly.
7. Wrap the thread to the eye and back again to the front of the thorax; all wraps are over the leader loop. Spin some back guard hairs and fur onto the thread and dub to the eye.
8. Cut the thread, put the cut end through the leader loop, and pull the butt of the loop drawing the thread back through and out the back of the head. Trim the thread closely. The end of the thread is whip finished and cemented under the dubbed head

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