Fish Skull Sculpin (olive)

The Fish Skull Sculpin is a weighted sculpin streamer that imitates sculpins, the small bottom-dwelling fish that big trout feed on. It is built around a Fish-Skull Sculpin Helmet, whose flat, broad shape copies the head of a real sculpin. The helmet is heavy, so the fly sinks fast to the bottom where sculpins live, and it turns the fly over so it swims hook point up, which means fewer snags on rocks and logs. A rabbit-fur tail and collar give it lifelike movement on every strip and pause.

Materials

• Head: Fish-Skull Sculpin Helmet with eyes
• Tail: rabbit zonker strip
• Collar and fins: rabbit fur
• Hook: long-shank streamer hook, sizes #10 to #2 (rides point up)

Colours available: Olive.

How to fish it: get it right down to the bottom and fish it slowly, using short strips and twitches with pauses, since real sculpins dart rather than swim fast. You can also swing it across the current or dead-drift it through deep runs. Effective for trout and bass, and for other predators that hunt along the bottom.