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Muddler minnows can be tied in numerous forms to better imitate your local bait fish. Third from the top is a muddler with a wing of brown marabou. |
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According to George Herter's excellent, though dated, book "Professional Fly Tying, Spinning and Tackle Making" the Muddler Minnow was invented in 1955 by Don Gapen who, at that time, lived in Orillia, Ontario, Canada. Don Gapen would fish the Nipigon River in north western Ontario for the big double-figure brook trout that could be caught there back in those days. While camping one evening he watched a small party of Ojibway Indian guides catching darter and sculpin minnows after dark. Their method was to tear off lengths of birch bark from nearby birch trees. These were then lit and set near the river's edge to act as lanterns. The Indians then lifted rocks in the river and speared the small darting minnows with dinner forks. The minnows were later fished as dead baits for brook trout They called these little bait fish "Cocatouse minnows."
Don Gapen took one of the minnows back to camp and tied a dozen streamer flies to represent them. Don's imitations were pretty rough, but nonetheless the next day he used them to take six brook trout weighing between 5 and 8 pounds.
The name Muddler Minnow comes from the scientific description of the sculpin family. Muddler is also the name used locally in that part of Canada for these small fish.
Don Gapen's original Muddler Minnow
The original Muddler Minnow pattern from Don Gapen is as follows:
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Professional Fly Tying, Spinning and Tackle Making Manual and Manufacturers' Guide by George Leonard Herter, was first published in 1941. This 1971 edition is now 35 years old. With 484 pages it is still a very readable and interesting book today . |
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Tail: Brown mottled turkey wing feather tied in to finish even with the wing.
Wing: Gray squirrel tail hair in center with mottled turkey wing feather segments on each side of it.
Hackle: Gray deer body hair tied on and left to flare out. It is tied on at the same time as the deer hair is tied on to form the head.
Head: Gray deer body hair clipped to form a rather flat head.
The Muddler is one of the most versatile of patterns. Tied on a size 1 or 2 lure hook it can represent a large bully. In this guise it is cast across the stream allowed to sink and then retrieved in short tugs of a foot or so.
On Canterbury 's high country lakes a muddler also passes as a good cicada imitation over the summer months. A good place to try it is Lake Selfe. In high summer the cicada there make a tremendous noise all "singing" together.
The highly versatile Muddler can also be tied on a small size 10 or 12 hook and fished as a dry fly to imitate a number of insects.
A particularly popular variation of the Muddler minnow is the Rabbit Muddler. This version features a wing of rabbit pelt which, when wet, has a very sinuious action indeed. Tie the body either from yellow Chenille or, for a very special fly, Mylar tubing.
The Rabbit Muddler is an excellent searun trout lure and has also been used very effectively over the years in Lakes Taupo and Rotorua for big rainbows. It has the same rabbit pelt strip as the Yellow Rabbit Lure.
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The Rabbit Muddler is a very good searun trout pattern. The body is Mylar tube, the head dair hair, and the wing is rabbit pelt. |
There are now many variants on the muddler theme sold in New Zealand tackle stores. Just what Don Gapen, or George Herter, would have made of these I'm not sure!
More on the muddler minnow here. The Doll Trout Fly.
You might also be interested in these New Zealand trout lure patterns: Hope's Silvery, Mrs Simpson and Hamills Killer, the Yellow Rabbit Lure, Silicon Rubber Trout Flies, Beetle Trout Flies, Luminous Trout Flies, Canterbury Searun Trout Lures,
Parsons' Glory,
Rabbit Lures and Taupo Tiger/Tiger Ross.
You may be interested in Trout Fishing Lake Georgina in the Canterbury high country.
Return to: Trout Fishing in New Zealand |
