Nova Scotia Muddler

The Muddler Minnow fly was originally designed to imitate a freshwater sculpin. Since then it has truly become the universal fly, a fly that can catch virtually any sport fish. A clipped deer hair head and hackle are essential features of any Muddler but the rest of the fly can vary in materials and colours. Some popular colour schemes are tan/gold, white/silver, purple/red, black/gold, and olive/gold. Often a bright accent colour is added to the basic colour schemes.

Muddler size can vary and it can be tied to fish wet, dry or both. These variations enable the Muddler to imitate a minnow, a nymph, a stonefly, a caddis, and a terrestrial such as a cricket, grasshopper, or moth. The late St. Mary’s River guide Bill Strople used to say that if he could only have one fly, it would be a Muddler. Bill caught Atlantic salmon, brown trout, brook trout, rainbow trout, striped bass and mackerel on Muddlers. The White Muddler was his favourite.

The Nova Scotia Muddler is a popular & successful variation of the Nova Scotia Fishing Fly, an attractor pattern for trout, sea trout & salmon angling. A bright and flashy blue/white design is perfect for a bright, sunny day with the sun in your face.

Nova Scotia Muddler

Hook –                   Streamer hook like the Mustad 3665A or 9762 hook, size 2, 4, 6, 8.

Thread –                 Fluorescent red

Tail –                      Golden yellow floss

Body –                    Silver Flat Braid or Diamond Braid mylar tinsel

Wing –                   White turkey, goose, or duck quill strips over white calf tail over 4 strands of forest green Krystal Flash

Hackle –                 Silver Doctor blue deer Hair

Head -                    Clipped Silver Doctor blue deer hair & Fluorescent red thread, finished with 2 coats of glossy clear head cement, like Angler’s Corner Wet Head Cement.

Muddler Minnow Tying Tips:

1.       The traditional Muddler has a feather wing over a hair wing. If you are uncomfortable tying feather wing strips, just omit them. A hair wing, or hair over Krystal Flash wing will do just fine.

2.       The Muddler hackle & head are made from deer hair, with a thread portion just behind the hook eye. Remember to reserve space on the hook shank, just behind the hook eye, for a neat little thread head. First tie in & flare a bunch of deer hair with the natural tapered ends pointed backward, toward the tail of the fly, and the blunt clipped ends pointing forward. Then tie in & flare a second bunch of deer hair with BOTH ends clipped.

3.       When applying head cement to the thread portion of the head, apply it BEFORE clipping the deer hair. The long deer hair is easy to hold out of the way so you can cement the thread neatly.

4.       If you follow tip 2, clipping the deer hair head is easy. Simply trim all the blunt clipped hair and leave the natural tapered unclipped hair to form a nice collar hackle.

5.       Don’t be in a rush tying if you prefer a neat fly. If you like a nicely tied fly, you will likely have confidence in it and fish better than you might fish an inferior fly. However, messy muddlers will also catch fish if you fish them well, and some anglers prefer them rough.

Please stay on the line …