How to Tie Dave Whitlock’s Red Fox Squirrel Nymph

Producer: tightlinevideo

The fly fishing and fly tying community recently lost one of the greats, Dave Whitlock. He was a remarkable angler, an exceptionally talented artist and author, and, based on my brief conversations with him, an incredibly kind and compassionate human being. He will be sorely missed.

This is the Red Fox Squirrel Nymph, one of his more well-known patterns. It’s elegant, versatile, effective and rather easy to tie. In other words, a near perfect fly.

The Red Fox Squirrel Nymph starts with a 2X long nymph hook, here a Fulling Mill 5085 in size 14. Begin by getting the hook firmly secured in the jaws of your tying vise.

For thread, UTC 70 Denier in either orange or black is a good choice. Here I’m using a burnt orange. Get the thread started on the hook shank behind the eye and, after taking a few wraps rearward, snip off the excess tag.

.015 lead-free round wire is used to add some weight to the fly and some taper to its body. With the spool in your left hand, place the bitter end on top of the hook shank and take thread wraps to secure it. Pass the spool to your right hand and begin making touching rearward wraps with the wire behind your tying thread. After 10 or so turns, anchor the wire with tight wraps of tying thread as you pull it in line with the hook shank. Rock the wire up and down while you make thread wraps. This will break it off close, leaving a short ramp down to the hook shank. End with your tying thread just back from the hook point.

Small, oval gold tinsel is used to rib and segment the fly, as well as give the illusion of transparency. A 6” length is enough to make several Red Fox Squirrel Nymphs. Lay one end against the far side of the hook and take thread wraps to secure it there. It’s placed on the far side so as not to jostle the tail during its first wrap.

The tail of the fly comes from a natural fox squirrel skin. You really want the fur from the center of the back. Grab a small pinch and snip it free, down close to the skin. The coloration is just plain awesome. Strip out the underfur and the shorter hairs from the butt ends, then remove any overly long guard hairs. This is a little too much so I’m going to remove a few more hairs. That looks about right. Measure to form a half-a-hook-shank length tail, that’s really more like an extension of the fly’s abdomen.

Transfer that measurement rearward to the start of the bend, then reach in with your tying scissors and snip the excess butt ends off square. Give your bobbin a counterclockwise spin, as if you’re looking down on it, so the first wrap will jump slightly rearward to catch the butt ends. Keep making rearward thread wraps to anchor the hair to the top of the hook shank, all the way back to the start of the bend. Then return your thread forward to the back edge of the wire wraps.

For the abdomen, I’m going to use Mr. Whitlock’s custom SLF blend, called Red Fox Squirrel Abdomen. Pull an ample clump free from the packet or dispenser, then use it to create a slender 2 1/2 inch-long noodle on your tying thread. Start taking wraps with the noodle so the dubbing begins right at the base of the tail. Continue taking touching wraps forward to build up a lightly tapered abdomen that extends nearly 2/3 of the way up the hook shank, about like this.

You can then get hold of the tinsel, and start making open spiral wraps with it over top of the dubbed abdomen. Notice how the first wrap didn’t jostle the tail in the least. After 5 or 6 turns, use your tying thread to anchor the tinsel then snip the excess off close.

Another one of Dave’s custom dubbing blends is used for the thorax of the fly. It’s a very different texture than that used for the abdomen, as well as being a darker color. Here, create a much shorter noodle on your tying thread, that’s about 1 1/2 inches in length. Start taking wraps with the noodle to build up an ample little thorax in front of the abdomen, making sure to leave some space behind the hook eye. If needed, take a few rearward thread wraps to hold the dubbing back and out of the way.

To represent legs and the like, I’m going to use a soft hackle hen saddle patch in speckled brown. After plucking one of the smaller feathers free from the skin, I’ll strip off all the lower fluffy stuff from both sides of the stem. You want the hackle to be very, very sparse so keep stripping until you’re left with just the very tip of the feather. You can use your fingertips to get a hold of this, but I prefer to use angled tweezers to firmly grab just the feather’s tip. You can then sweep the lower fibers down and snip just the very tip off, leaving a small, triangle-shaped tie-in anchor. Lay the anchor against the near side of the hook, give your bobbin a counterclockwise spin, then take tight thread wraps to bind the anchor to the hook shank.

Get hold of the feather’s bare stem with hackle pliers and pull it up to vertical. Sweep the fibers rearward to fold them around the stem, then start taking wraps with the feather, folding the fibers rearward as you go. 1 1/2 to 2 turns are all that’s needed. When you reach bare stem, anchor it to the shank with a couple of tight thread wraps then snip the excess off close. Sweep the fibers back and take a few rearward thread wraps to keep them angled back. Neaten up the head of the fly and leave your thread hanging at the front edge of the hackle wraps.

Pick up your whip finish tool and use it to do a 5 or 6 turn, back to front whip finish, seat the knot really well and snip or cut your tying thread free. A drop of head cement, here Sally Hansen Hard as Nails, applied to the thread wraps and allowed to sink in and dry, will ensure the wraps don’t come unraveled as well as improve the look and durability of the fly. Do make sure the eye is clear of adhesive, so there are no surprises when you go to tie the fly onto your tippet.

And that’s Dave Whitlock’s Red Fox Squirrel Nymph, an extraordinary pattern from an extraordinary man.