Muddler Minnow
Don Gapen's Muddler Minnow is one of the most influential fly patterns in history. Its clipped deer hair head creates a natural buoyancy and a sculpin-like blunt profile that triggers aggressive strikes from large browns and rainbows. Fish it on a floating line with a jerky, bottom-hugging retrieve, or weight it to get it down deep in fast runs. Particularly deadly in fall when big fish are chasing baitfish.
- Type
- streamer (Streamer)
- Hook sizes
- #2–10
- Target species
- trout, bass
- Difficulty
- intermediate
- Best seasons
- spring, summer, fall
Materials
- hook: 3X long streamer hook #2–10
- thread: Brown or tan 6/0
- tail: Mottled turkey quill segment
- body: Flat gold tinsel
- wing: Squirrel tail with mottled turkey quill overwing
- collar: Natural deer hair, spun and flared
Tying steps
- Mount a size 2–10 3XL hook; start brown thread and wrap to bend.
- Tie in a mottled turkey quill segment as the tail.
- Wrap flat gold tinsel in tight touching spirals from the tail to the 2/3 mark for the body.
- Tie in a small bunch of squirrel tail hair as the underwing at the 2/3 mark.
- Tie two sections of mottled turkey quill on each side as the outer wing.
- Spin natural deer hair in tight bunches forward to the eye to fill the head area.
- Clip the deer hair head into a sculpin bullet shape — flat on the bottom, rounded on top.
- Whip finish and apply a thin coat of head cement to the thread wraps at the eye.