As the cool river current pushes and pulls hard against my legs, I watch the arc of a floating line swing my fly beneath the rippling surface sparkling with diamonds of winter light. I love swinging a fly like the Muddler Minnow that is knotted to the end of my leader. It relaxes me; my thoughts wander, become contemplative. The crazy rat race beyond this river’s banks fades away.
I have swung many different flies over the years. My friend Joe Punla introduced me to his version of the Muddler on the American River. I became a firm believer in the pattern’s effectiveness on the Trinity River when Joe hooked two steelhead that ignored my own reliable fly. Recently, the fly worked wonders once again on the Klamath. Joe’s Muddler is a slightly stripped down version of Bruce Berry’s version, the Euphoric Muddler, which in turn drew inspiration from Rick Anderson’s fly, the Euphoria. Here is how to tie Joe’s version. Begin by inserting a size 6 TMC 5263 hook into the vise. Attach a strong black thread three-quarters of the way up the shank. Secure one or two strands of pearl Flashabou and wrap it back in touching turns, stopping just before the bend, then back up. Secure it and trim the excess. Next, attach a strand of mint green Flashabou or Sparkle Braid and wrap it back within an eighth of an inch of the end of the pearl flash. This creates a tag. Then wind it back up to the tie-in point, secure it, and snip away the excess. This creates the body. Coat the flash with varnish and let it dry.
Add a wing of chartreuse gadwall feather barbules: strip around a dozen barbules from the stem and secure them by the butts at the original starting point on top of the shank, allowing the tips to extend back about half a hook shank’s length past the bend. Next, just in front of the original beginning spot, tie in one strand of pearl Flashabou on each side of the hook in a V, allowing it to hang about half an inch past the gadwall.
The last step is spinning the sparse dear hair head. The original version of the Muddler uses a fairly heavy clump of deer hair. I like Joe’s version, because it is more versatile, making both surface and subsurface presentations easier.
Begin the head by clipping a medium-thick bunch of hair and stacking it in a hair stacker. Remove the hair and trim to length the butts so that the tips will extend back just short of the feathers after spinning. The bobbin and thread should be positioned at the original tie-in location. Advance halfway toward the eye and rest the clump of hair there, tips toward the rear. The butts should stick out a little past the eye. Take two loose turns of thread around the clump and shank. Slowly tighten down the thread and allow the hair to spin into a messy ball until it is tight to the shank. Next, wiggle and wind the thread forward until it is in front of the hair and just behind the eye. Whip finish and cut away the thread. It’s time to shape the head.
Use scissors or a flexible razor blade to cut a flat bottom beneath the shank and close to the thread. Trim a round head, but leave a collar of hair fanned above the shank, extending back just short of the gadwall. Cement the whip-finished thread, and you are done. Go stand in some cool water, swing the fly, and relax.
— Andy Guibord
