Muddler Minnow

By Gary Lewis

Big fish eat little fish. At the bottom of the food chain is the sculpin, a tiny scavenger which averages two to four inches in size. And he stays on the bottom. Any elevation in the water column and he is dinner for any 12-inch trout. 

The Muddler Minnow is one of the best-loved streamer flies of the last 50 years. Fish a Muddler for steelhead or predatory trout on a floating or sink-tip line. Cast across, throw an upstream mend and let the current drag the fly down and across the riffle. At the end of the swing, let the fly linger, sweeping back and forth. 

Tie this pattern on a No. 2-8 streamer hook. A lead wrap is optional. For the tail, tie in a wide band of turkey feather fibers, using lacquer to keep the fibers from splitting. Use oval or flat gold mylar for the body, wrapping 3/4 of the way to the eye of the hook. Tie in a few fibers of squirrel hair along the body then tie in a wing of turkey tail, extending almost to the end of the tail. Spin deer hair for the head and trim in the shape of a bullet.

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