It's Gettin Squirrely

My Uncle Steve gave me a couple dozen squirrel tails and some bucktail from the great and powerful Illinois north a while back(quite a while back), that I put in the freezer. I never actually forgot about them, I just never could get everything together to get them cleaned and treated. I cleaned out the freezer a few weeks ago and decided it was time...way past time. For the last few weeks they've just been enjoying the natural freeze/thaw cycle of nature and taking in the views as they've hung in bags, soaking up salt. Non-iodized salt is pretty amazing stuff when it comes to dead animal parts. We had a few really warm days since I hung them up and i was expecting at least some rank funkiness, but there was none. They're all dry and relatively clean. I washed a few select tails today, and may experiment with some dying in the near future, but for now just used the fox squirrel as is. A cranking wood furnace will dry anything out in a matter of minutes, but I did add some more salt just to make sure.

Some of these squirrelies must have been monsters. The biggest tail has hair that's almost 3 inches long.

I've got smallies on the brain, so some squirrley clousers were in order.

Step right up....step right up

As soon as I finished my carp swap flies I joined another one. I try not to get involved in too many due to my penchant for burnout and procrastination, but these are two awesome swaps, and I'm lucky to be participating. It's not like I'm doing much else anyway. It's wet, cold, and we're waiting on a baby....so, I tie. This one is a smallie swap from the Drake. There will be some badass flies sent my way, so I'm a little nervous. It's my first Drake swap and I don't want it to be my last. Besides fouling, rabbit strips are the perfect bass fly material as far as I'm concerned. The little bit of bucktail tied before the rabbit strip should help that, but it will still foul. They always foul. "No biggie" and "it'll be worth it", says the guy who's sending you unfished rabbit strip flies and getting some proven patterns in return.

feelin crabby

Last carp season brought on a new and prolific revelation for me. Egg Yarn is the shit, and carp love it. I think it's probably the visibility, but I had very good luck with egg yarn. I've been experimenting with incorporating it into patterns other than just eggs.....haven't really hit the bulls eye yet. Here's the latest.