brown trout bucktail

[JSzymczyk 0]

I only pointed out that squirrel tail is quite different from deer tail.

 

The referenced article does not give any data to support the "14 times better" claim. There are SO MANY variables involved. That kind of statement is just silly. It is like stating "All the girls in Estonia are 14 times prettier than all the girls in Pennsylvania". It is simply unsupportable-- Read the opening statements of four of the first five paragraphs:

 

"It seems that compared to ourselves, trout and salmon have pretty poor vision"

"From what I have gathered it appears that"

"As you might expect"

"To me the above observations seem to validate"

 

nothing close to being written in stone there.... I don't tie realistic flies. I know what works and what does not work, usually, and by-God I know that squirrel tail is different than bucktail and is not a direct substitute.

 

BTW from what I remember, the girls in Estonia are 7 or 8 times prettier than the girls here, but not 14 times.

[flytire 0]

buy a damn squirrel tail and just be done with it! move on

[KOKOEK9 0]

the red squirrel is not meant to repace bucktail, it is an ingrediant of the fly, I want to know what else I can use if I can't get a squirrl tail. what tail has similar coloration. What is the difference between fox squirrel and red squirrel besides their size, thanks

[tidewaterfly 0]

As a substitute, any fine hair of similar texture & color could be used. Dyed Gray Squirrel tail would be the closest choice IMO since it has the black barring & the texture of the hair is similar. Red Squirrel could be used too. However, it may not have the black barring. I've got some Red Squirrel tails that have almost no black in them & others that are well marked with black barring. Natural colored Red Fox tail would work too if you can find a tail with similar reddish brown color as it's also usually got some black mingled in.

 

Frankly, I don't think it matters a great deal what you choose to substitute other than it fits the size of the fly you're tying. The smaller the fly, the finer the hair you'll want to use. When tying with natural colored hairs you get what you get. They're not all going to be exactly the same even between hair of the same species. Not all Baby Brown Trout are going to be exactly the same color or marked the same either, so the hair coloration shouldn't be critical anyway.

 

Otherwise use what you have & add some black marking with a permanent marker & go fish the darn fly.

[phg 0]

Red fox would give you the right color, but a slightly different texture. Badger is also similar in pattern, but not color.

 

Grey squirrel, undyed, would be your best substitute. You can pick them up on the side of the road, most places.

 

Fox squirrels are half again larger than grey squirrels. In color, though, they can range from black through grey to chestnut. Most, though, are a redish brown. Some vendors carry grey squirrel tails that ave been dyed fox squirrel red.

[KOKOEK9 0]

thanks for your in put, this pattern has 2 colors of buck tail some natural gray squirrel and some red trhe only thing I don't have is the red. I'll get some red. I don't drive and wife won't stop for road kill, shes a city girl

[JSzymczyk 0]

In Joseph Bates' book "Streamer Fly Tying and Fishing" he gives the dressing of the Little Brown Trout fly as tied by the originator, Sam Slaymaker of Pennsylvania and does not mention RED squirrel tail---- here is the quote:

 

" Four very small separated bunches of hair, each extending slightly beyond the tail. A very small bunch of yellow bucktail over which is a very small bunch of reddish-orange bucktail, slightly blended. Over this is a very small bunch of MEDIUM DARK SQUIRREL TAIL topped and slightly blended with a very small bunch of DARK BROWN SQUIRREL TAIL."

 

real red squirrel, Tamiasciurus hudsonicus, is a fairly dinky animal- half the size of a typical gray or thereabouts depending on where. The tail hair is short compared to gray, and especially fox squirrel. If you are still in need of a red squirrel tail next fall, send me a PM and I will try to shoot one (or twenty) for you. Pennsylvania has at some time in the recent past included red squirrels in the season and bag limits for the other squirrels (gray, black, and fox) even though I've never known anyone who would waste a round on one to eat. They primarily eat conifer seeds (a lot of folks call them pine squirrels) and have only a tiny amount of meat. They think they are ferocious though, and will sit on a limb or stump and yell at you all day while you are trying to hunt other things.

[Goats 0]

Trout can't see nearly as well as we can - size, shape and movement are what's important - If the trout could differentiate between buck tail and squirrel tail, then they could sure as hell differentiate between a fish tail and a mammal tail

I do not agree ... Trout can see an insect on the surface, and eat it, that we can't even tell was ever there. Fish can see better than people, they just don't have the mental capability of conscious thought. They don't think or reason, "Oh, that doesn't look like the other bugs I've been eating." Their vision is different that ours, not worse. And their interpretation of what the eye sees would be alien to us, even if we could experience it.

I do agree with your statement that size, shape and movement are what's important ... but not your reason for that.

 

Yeah but could a trout spot ham and cheese hot pockets at the back and bottom of a grocery store freezer.

[KOKOEK9 0]

Hi, I have the bates book, very good. Thanks for the offer of the tails. I don't hunt. any way I don't think there are reds around here. But I hear they will drive other varieties away