Wiggle Whitey - Articulated Streamer

Wiggle Whitey

I was on a solo mission to one of those spots on the river that exist on every piece of moving water in the country. It's the hole that you have looked at time and time again but never fish it because of whatever excuse you come up with. I had driven past this hole for years, and finally decided that it was time for me to figure out why it was taunting me so much. It was still pretty early and the light was low, but I could still decipher some oblong slithery movement hugging the rocks beneath the main current. On went the good old stonefly and worm rig with the Euro outfit and it didn't take long before my line was tight - super tight. I was sure that I had hooked the biggest brown I had ever hooked on that river until I saw it. Purplish flash on the back. Odd head wiggles. Yep. It was a whitey. I actually gained a lot of respect for Grandpa Whitey and all of his other family members that decided to fight with me that day, because of all the fish I caught in what is now one of my favorite stretches of river, the Whitey family fought the hardest.

That good day of nymphing got me thinking about streamers and streamer design more than a little bit. I convinced myself that the only reason that whitefish were so damn slimy was to help them slide down the throat of a big hungry brown trout. I tie many of my streamers in a white, cream, or tan coloration, but I hadn't really tried to do something that was the dirty gray or white that matched a whitefish. Up to this point, I had just modified current flies to have a whitefish color, but this fly was built from the vise up with whitefish in mind...

Tips... 1- With fox, less is more. Get comfortable with the amounts that you tie in and you will get it dialed in. 2- If you can, find someone that sells whole tails. Foxes of all types, coyote, raccoon, etc. It's all really good. I found mine at a gun show. #Murica 3- I used Whiting 4B rooster saddle, but Whiting American rooster saddle works great too - American Hackle

~ Cheech