Muddler Minnows

Cliff

Cliff

Steelhead
I'm curious, do many fishermen use Muddler Minnows anymore? It seems like they were pretty popular once but have been supplanted by Buggers and similar patterns. I always have a couple in my box, but rarely use them. Since they don't have bead-heads I tend to use them on a sink tip. They have proven to be killers on brown trout in rivers for me, but since I use a floating line most of the time my Muddlers don't get much use. Anyway, just curious.
 
@Zak and a couple others got me inspired to start fishing them last August. I've been fishing different versions of them, using a variety of different presentations, in streams and lakes since then. A classic that I didn't have much faith in, but I became a believer.20220626_streamers.jpg
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They’re not my go-to pattern but I keep a couple around for summer, and they are a nice secret during fall salmon.

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Also always have a few of these purple ones with a small 3.2 tungsten. They’re cuttie candy, and the summer run seem to like them.

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Sometimes the pescatarian comes out and fish only want to eat the homies.
 
I use Muddler Minnows virtually every time I fish. That's not to say I use them exclusively, but one or two always come home wet. I usually place the smallest split shot I have in my arsenal only about an inch above the fly, to make sure this naturally buoyant fly is near the bottom, and swing it through the channels I find in faster moving water. I find this method very effective. I'm fishing with a 4-weight, so usually use a size 10 Muddler, at the small end of this fly.

Back West, it I used it in pocket water upstream and in tidewater downstream on the NW Oregon coastal streams, such as the Nehalem, for sea run cutts.
 
I fish them when I am swinging for summer steelhead and sea-runs. Usually on a rage with an intermediate or mono polyleader, or if I want to get deeper faster, a 5' MOW tip.

They are popular up north for coho too, but they never seemed to catch on down here.
 
Three years after I got out of the Navy, my wife and I moved to Klamath Falls where I rediscovered the joy of fishing. A few of my OIT classmates were fly fishing local rivers and I began joining them on their outings - without a fly rod I used my old spinning rod. At the same time, a family friend gave me an old Thompson vise and I snagged a few tying materials. The muddler minnow became a favorite - a couple split shot and I could cast a muddler quite well. The version we tied was supposed to look like Terry Hellekson's version (varnished turkey wings for tail and wing). As we all know, bouncing our lures along a river bottom results in snags. It took me, on average, a half hour to tie one of those flies and I may have cussed a time or two when I'd lose a fly to the river.

I don't fish rivers that much anymore but do enjoy fishing "noisy" variations of the muddler when lake fishing. I deliberately clip the deer hair heads blunt or flat in front, which I think creates noise when stripping it in. They're ugly flies, really ugly but sometimes buy strikes when other flies seem to be ignored: Noisy (olive noisy).jpg
 
Cliff said:
I'm curious, do many fishermen use Muddler Minnows anymore? It seems like they were pretty popular once but have been supplanted by Buggers and similar patterns. I always have a couple in my box, but rarely use them. Since they don't have bead-heads I tend to use them on a sink tip. They have proven to be killers on brown trout in rivers for me, but since I use a floating line most of the time my Muddlers don't get much use. Anyway, just curious.
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Forty years ago I mainly fished muddlers and GRHE in varying sizes. The fish, the water, and the habitat, are not what they used to be, at least where I fish. Now, those flies are still in my box but I have switched to these that I feel represent a better silhouette and pulse life:

 
Flymph said:
Forty years ago I mainly fished muddlers and GRHE in varying sizes. The fish, the water, and the habitat, are not what they used to be, at least where I fish. Now, those flies are still in my box but I have switched to these that I feel represent a better silhouette and pulse life:

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What you’re missing is the Muddler was designed to be a multi imitator. It can be used as a minnow, a Caddis pupae, or a grasshopper, depending on how you fish it.
 
Buzzy said:
Three years after I got out of the Navy, my wife and I moved to Klamath Falls where I rediscovered the joy of fishing. A few of my OIT classmates were fly fishing local rivers and I began joining them on their outings - without a fly rod I used my old spinning rod. At the same time, a family friend gave me an old Thompson vise and I snagged a few tying materials. The muddler minnow became a favorite - a couple split shot and I could cast a muddler quite well. The version we tied was supposed to look like Terry Hellekson's version (varnished turkey wings for tail and wing). As we all know, bouncing our lures along a river bottom results in snags. It took me, on average, a half hour to tie one of those flies and I may have cussed a time or two when I'd lose a fly to the river.

I don't fish rivers that much anymore but do enjoy fishing "noisy" variations of the muddler when lake fishing. I deliberately clip the deer hair heads blunt or flat in front, which I think creates noise when stripping it in. They're ugly flies, really ugly but sometimes buy strikes when other flies seem to be ignored: View attachment 20496
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So, could we call your variation a Blunt Faced Muddler ?
 
Phil K said:
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Fantastic! I look at these muddlers and flashback to Ferguson's Green and Silver*, these I have to try and tie (no chartreuse deer hair).

* In my early SRC fishing days, Ferguson's Green and Silver was my go to fly. Over the years that pattern has morphed many times to where I have a few dozen variations on the original recipe from Bruce.
 
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