Monday, August 19, 2019

Go-To Euro Streamers - Two Squirrel Streamer Tying Tutorials


There are so many benefits to euro-nymphing. While the draw was obvious to me as I first witnessed a successful euro angler firsthand (Gilbert Rowley), it has been a steep learning curve. Many of the rivers I regularly fish are larger, with deep water and fast currents. It was daunting taking a short-game approach when confronted with so much water, but all the failed attempts have slowly payed off in the form of lessons learned. Success has come, but slowly.

Before picking up a whippy flippy euro stick, I was mostly drawn to fishing larger mouse patterns and streamers with an 8wt rod. While many fish can be caught with smaller nymphs, larger fish are caught with more regularity on larger fly patterns. True, smaller nymphs can catch larger fish, but I'm more inclined to think that this is the result of a numbers game. Fish are just more likely to put in extra energy to chase something down with a bigger energy payoff. They'll usually let the small stuff come to them.

Most bigger fish didn't get that way by eating zillions of tiny bugs. Don't get me wrong. This doesn't mean that a whole chicken and rabbit have to be tied onto five gaping B10S hooks to draw the attention of a big fish. I've caught some of my biggest fish on nothing bigger than a Wooly Bugger. It doesn't have to be a large streamer to do the trick.

While I still throw larger streamers on my euro setup on occasion, I have found more success in more situations with smaller streamers. I've toyed around with Dolly Llama streamers, Slumpbusters, and even my own Skullcracker Streamer. All are excellent patterns, but can be a bit unwieldy to throw on a lighter rod, once enough weight is added to get it down. All the rabbit leather and hair keep these patterns from sinking as fast, and as a result need more weight to compensate.

I have tied lead jig streamers for quite some time now, but a buddy of mine, Tim Davidson, came up with a simple way to paint the jig heads using just nail polish and clear Gorilla Glue, and put me on to using squirrel strips to minimize current drag for fishing them on a euro setup. It's been pretty downhill from there.

The following tying tutorials show two of the main few patterns I use with my euro setup. The Squirrel Leech is essentially the same pattern Tim ties, but the Squirrel Sculpin is a variation of a pattern tied by Justin Aldrich.

Two of my favorite things in a fly, simple to tie, and extremely effective. If you're not into the euro thing, these also fish well under an indicator. Tie some up and give them a whirl.

Squirrel Sculpin
HookWapsi Super Jig Head (1/32oz, 1/16oz or 1/8oz)
Jig Coating: Your choice of nail polish color (Olive --> Sally Hansen 838 Ever Green) (White --> Sally Hansen 300 White On)  + Clear Gorilla Glue
Body: Dubbing of your choice to match/compliment your squirrel color (I recommend cream colored, or a tan/white ice dub)
Tail and Collar: Squirrel Zonker Strip (color of your choosing, but Sculpin Olive is used in this video)

If you don't care for explanations, you may want to skip to 3:25 on this one.


Squirrel Leech
Hook: Wapsi Super Jig Head (1/32oz, 1/16oz or 1/8oz)
Jig Coating: Your choice of nail polish color (Black --> Sally Hansen 880 Black Heart) + Clear Gorilla Glue
Body: Dubbing of your choice to match/compliment your squirrel color
Tail and Collar: Squirrel Zonker Strip (color of your choosing)