Muddler

HOOK: 5263, sizes 2-12 THREAD: Black TAIL: Turkey quill BODY: Flat gold tinsel or gold Diamond Braid UNDERWING: Gray squirell tail WING: Turkey quill HEAD AND COLLAR: Deer hair, spun and clipped on head

Uses

The Muddler is one of the most useful streamer patterns an angler can carry. It suggests a wide variety of baitfish that trout eat, especially sculpins. It is suitable for both rivers and lakes.

Variations

The Steelhead Muddler is a beefed-up version suitable for steelhead fishing.

How to Fish

Muddlers can produce fish when presented shallow or deep, on a sink-tip line or a floater, on a wet-fly swing or when retrieved. Just don't treat it like a dry fly (although even then, a trout might take it for a grasshopper). Presentations: count-down-and-retrieve, slow retrieve, wind drift, wet fly swing, deep swing.