Mini Squirrel Leech

Cheech - December, 2018

In today's climate of 12" flies and heavy fly rods, we might need to remind ourselves that fish eat the moderate to small stuff a lot too. I actually get asked a lot about which "streamers" I fish in lakes, but the answer is always a little cloudy in regards to "streamers" that I fish in lakes. Yes, I tie lots of weighted monstrosities that I huck with a 7 weight, but I find myself fishing smaller and smaller bugs in stillwaters. If you were to look in my stillwater boxes you would see that the majority of my flies are size 6 and under - even with my collection of buggers, bugger variations, and leeches. Regarding leeches, I like to tie them lots of times without any hackle in order to keep their natural slim appearance, and that is one of the main reasons I started playing with this pattern. For this leech I opted for a shorter shank hook so I could add a longer marabou tail without making the overall fly too long, and I blended up a whole bunch of cool dubbing mixes out of Squirrel... As you will see, I didn't use any squirrel directly on the pelt with this leech, but I shaved it, added some flash, and took advantage of it's really buggy properties to make an awesome little leech pattern. In this video you will see both how to tie the fly, and how to prepare the dubbing straight from the squirrel. Best of luck, and happy box filling! ~ Cheech