Slumpbuster
John Barr's Slumpbuster is a go-to pattern when the fishing is tough and nothing else is working. Its strip-of-pine-squirrel wing creates extraordinary movement with the smallest twitch, and the conehead allows it to be fished at any depth. Fish it when you need to 'break a slump' — on slow, cold days or in pressured water where trout have seen every other fly. Works equally well swung or stripped, with or without a sinking line.
- Type
- streamer (Streamer)
- Hook sizes
- #4–10
- Target species
- trout
- Difficulty
- intermediate
- Best seasons
- spring, summer, fall, winter
Materials
- hook: Streamer hook #4–10
- thread: Olive or brown 6/0
- head: Tungsten conehead
- weight: Lead wire
- body: Pine squirrel Zonker strip, wound
- flash: Krystal Flash
Tying steps
- Slide a tungsten conehead onto a size 4–10 nymph or streamer hook.
- Start thread behind the cone; wrap lead wire for additional weight.
- Tie in a pine squirrel Zonker strip at the bend, strip facing up.
- Wind the squirrel strip forward, wrapping it around the shank to the cone.
- Add 4 strands of Krystal Flash alongside the body.
- Tie in a second squirrel strip at the cone as an overwing.
- Build a thread collar against the cone; whip finish and cement.
- Apply UV resin over the thread head behind the cone; cure and inspect the fur strip lies flat.