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Whitlocks Red Fox Squirrel Hair Nymph....

Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2016 9:19 pm
by DOUGSDEN
Good Evening Everyone!

The latest installment of patterns is the Dave Whitlock Red Fox Squirrel Nymph! What a fish catching pattern by our friend Dave! The pattern below is befrocked with some minor changes on my part (forgive me Dave). One of the most exciting fly tying videos (nowadays dvd's) I have ever watched was the one showing both tying and fishing of this venerable pattern! It is an absolute killer in the weighted and wet form! Here is the recipe!

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Hook: With todays myriad of choices out there...experiment! One thing I have noticed however...the pattern looks very much like a caddis larvae coming to the surface and thats why it is so often taken by trout! By changing the hook designs and sizes, one can easily immitate a mayfly or even a dragonfly nymph! The world is your oyster and the versitility of this pattern is amazing! I have grown fond of "swimming nymph" hook styles because they look really cool and the fish love them!
Thread: On larger sizes, 6/0 Danville's black or orange. On smaller sizes, Uni-thread 8/0 again in black or orange!
Tag and Rib: Krystal Flash in root beer color or sometimes an olive green color works great!
Lead: Gauge your lead wire diameters to the hook diameter....as a general rule! With some patterns, under wiring the nymph by one size works wonders!
Abdomen dubbing: SLF (synthetic living fiber) Dave Whitlock Red Fox Sq. Abdomen. I don't mind telling you that Feather Craft in St. Louis has about the best mix I have ever encountered! I have also had great success in mixing my own. Fox Sq. belly fur and orange antron! Watching Dave W. mix his own on the video is awesome!
Thorax dubbing: SLF Dave W. #1 thorax blend again from Feather Craft is hard to beat! This darker blend for the thorax area comes from the fur on the back of the squirrel and a touch of antron!
Hackle: India Hen Back in the lightest natural speckled orange color (they are hard to find). Just a turn or two at most! Dave peals off the fibers on the leading edge of the hackle and then winds the feather forward for an even sparser hackle!
Head: Sometimes a tight turn or two of thorax dubbing right at the last! It makes the front end of things look very cool and buggy!
Tail: 6-10 short, well marked fibers from a Hungarian Partridge feather tied on top of the hook shank! Dave W. uses the body fur from the back of the squirrel tied rather sparse and it looks really great!

I hope you enjoy this pattern in both the tying and fishing that you do! Oh, don't forget to take a velcro "scratcher" (Ruard makes a great one of these that I use all the time) and rough up the abdomen and thorax just ahead of the hackle tie in! It really does a number on the body of the fly and gives it that just right fuzzy look!

The picture shown is the wet version! With this one, I substitute partridge for the typical orange India hen back!

Dougsden

Re: Whitlocks Red Fox Squirrel Hair Nymph....

Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2016 9:46 pm
by hankaye
DOUGSDEN, Howdy;

You sure do have "A Thing" for that pattern. I had to go all the way back to fall of 2012 to find these,
yours are on pg.2;
http://flymphforum.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... 4&start=10
Four years later and I'll wager you stil[ get a big thrill when you tye them. :D , ;) . And that's a "Good Thing"!

hank

Re: Whitlocks Red Fox Squirrel Hair Nymph....

Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2016 9:59 pm
by letumgo
Doug,

I remember seeing your rows of Whitlock Red Fox squirrel nymphs in your fly box when I first met you in Roscoe. Proof of their effectiveness. They are such a beautiful pattern!

Hank,

You are a wizard with the search feature! Thank you for posting the link to the older photos. Really cool!

Re: Whitlocks Red Fox Squirrel Hair Nymph....

Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2016 7:13 am
by tie2fish
Here are a couple more photos of Doug's excellent Whitlock RFST nymphs ...
Doug's Red Fox Squirrel Nymph.jpg
Doug's Red Fox Squirrel Nymph.jpg (228.25 KiB) Viewed 9642 times
Dougs' Red Fox Squirrel Tail Nymphs.jpg
Dougs' Red Fox Squirrel Tail Nymphs.jpg (190.93 KiB) Viewed 9635 times

Re: Whitlocks Red Fox Squirrel Hair Nymph....

Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2016 8:29 am
by letumgo
Bill,

Your post reminded me that I have fished one of Doug's curvy wiggle nymph versions too. Sure is a handome fly.

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Re: Whitlocks Red Fox Squirrel Hair Nymph....

Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2016 9:14 am
by SenecaLaker
Whoa Doug that is beautiful. That is such a nice tie. I can't imagine fish in our streams here turning that one down.

Re: Whitlocks Red Fox Squirrel Hair Nymph....

Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2016 10:53 am
by ScottP
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Replaced the dubbed thorax in Dave Whitlock's pattern with rat-brown ostrich from an old feather duster.

hook - Dai Riki 280 # 8
thread - Danville 6/0 brown
underbody - non-tox .030
rib - small oval tinsel gold
tail - fox squirrel back guard hairs
abdomen - dubbing fox squirrel belly/antron
thorax - ostrich herl dark grey/brown
hackle - hen (Dutch Welsummer)


Regards,
Scott

Re: Whitlocks Red Fox Squirrel Hair Nymph....

Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2016 11:31 am
by letumgo
Scott - Gorgeous fly! Did you wrap the hackle thru the throrax, or did you twist the hackle with the herl before wrapping? I'd love to hear how you formed the hackled thorax. I love the look.

Re: Whitlocks Red Fox Squirrel Hair Nymph....

Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2016 11:44 am
by ScottP
Ray,

Thanks. Tied in some ostrich herl and the hen hackle by the tips, twisted the herl with the tying thread, laid the hackle over the herl rope, swept it all back with moistened fingers and wrapped it forward; finished with a turn of herl in the front.

Regards,
Scott

Re: Whitlocks Red Fox Squirrel Hair Nymph....

Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2016 1:50 pm
by letumgo
Got it! Great technique. Thanks Scott.