The Orange squirrel wet fly tutorial

The orange squirrel is a wet fly i put together that produces pretty damn well for me. It is basically a mutant march brown looking fly but the trout approve and that is what matters most.
  I have some great days fishing this pattern as my second or my top fly on my cast of flies. Strikes can be valiant on this baby.  
 I fish this at any point of the year but it surely works best in the spring through fall.

 Materials

Hook- Daiichi 1560 #12-15

Thread- Uni 8/0 rust brown

Tail- Bronze mallard

Body- Fox squirrel

Rib- clear wrap colored orange with a sharpie

Hackle- Hen Mallard breast

Wing- Partridge secondary

Lets twist one up!

Start the thread a little back from the eye and run it back to the just past the point

Select a half a dozen bronze mallard flank hackles for the tail. Tie them in on top. Tail should be the length of the shank

Tie in the clear wrap rib.

Get out the orange sharpie.

Color the the side of the clear wrap facing you. This will be the under side when you wind the the rib. This will help keep the color of the rib for a long time.

Dub the body, Keep the dub sparse in the rear and taper up as you go, then taper down near the eye. Be sure to leave a hook eyes space for the hackle and wing.

Wind the rib up through, relatively close wraps. I like to have 4 wraps showing on the fly.

Tie in the hackle by the tip withe the good side facing up.  Be sure to keep a nice level area by the head. No lumps or bumps!

Wind the hackle on, one turn in front of the other, stroking the hackle back as you wind.  Snip the waste and pull the down on both sides. Wind the thread back and over the hackles a bit. This is a tied down hackle.

Get yourself a left and right secondary feathers, The neater the edges the easier the wing will be.  I like to use a light shade of the secondary feathers for this fly.

Cut yourself two slips from the feathers. Be sure both the same size. Line the points up and the top edge of the feathers, that is the most important part. 

Measure the wing to be the full fly length. I like a little longer wing on this fly. Hold the slips tight in place of the top of the shank and as close to the shank as possible. Pinch and loop. Pulling the thread through your fingers and cinching tight. The only thing that should move is the butts of the slips.  Do an additional pinch and loop and then take a couple of tight wraps. Take a look at how the wind is sitting. You can always go back.

Once you are pleased with the wing, snip the butts off , A very sharp pair of scissors is key for getting a close cut.  Wrap the thread from the eye up. Forming a thread step to smoothly cover over the cut butts.

Whip finish the fly going back towards the eye.

Varnish the head and you got yourself a great fish producer.  Tight  Ties.