Description: The RSP is my original pattern and is an adaptation of the famous Picket Pin. In the early 1990's I was inspired to create a variation of the Picket Pin. I changed the original gray squirrel wing to red squirrel, and converted the peacock herl body to silver tinsel with an oval ribbing. Along the way other changes were made with the hackle and tail, and the RSP eventually evolved to its present design.
It is a very effective streamer pattern. For years the RSP lacked a real name; it was called the Red Squirrel Picket Pin, or the Silver Picket Pin, or Red Squirrel Silver Picket Pin, (whew!). Just recently while fishing in Maine, I decided to call this fly the RSP - "R" for red squirrel, "S" for squirrel and silver, and "P" for Picket Pin; hence the RSP.
This fly has been a staple in my Maine fishing for almost 20 years. It is effective for brook trout, landlocked salmon, and togue (lake trout). There was one year during a fishing trip to the Moosehead Lake area that I never removed the RSP from my tippet for the entire week, reason being it was catching fish so consistently.
The three big brook trout shown in the "More Photos" section were all caught on the RSP on the Magalloway River in Maine in May of 2011 - a fine testament to the effectiveness of this pattern.
My niece also caught browns, rainbows, and mackinaw trout in the summer of 2010 while fishing in Montana. The RSP has almost 20 years of fishing success behind it.
What it imitates: Smelt, small minnow, or other baitfish.
When to fish it: Fish the RSP anytime that you would like to try a streamer pattern.
Where to fish it: The RSP is a good fly for all water types where brook, brown, rainbow trout, togue, and landlocked salmon feed, flowing or still. It works particularly well in moving water environs where baitfish are part of the fish's diet, or when used for lake-run fish entering a river or stream that typically obtain the bulk of their diet from smelt or minnows in large bodies of water.
How to fish it: Our experience fishing the RSP is usually done in tandem, with the RSP on a 3x tippet on the "point" with a bugger or larger streamer or wet fly tied in-line or on a dropper in front of the RSP in "hand position" (fly closest to the rod hand). If fished tandem, the flies should be about 24" to 30" apart. The RSP seems to get 80% of the strikes and hook-ups when fished in a tandem rig, so it is a great fly to use by itself.
Fish the RSP in traditional streamer fashion, down-and-across, employing a variety of retrieve speeds and actions, occasionally giving twitches and jerks to impart minnow-like movement. When fishing deeper river pools or in still water, a slow retrieve is usually best. The RSP could be tied in different sizes, but I have always tied it on a size #8 long shank hook. The pattern is less than an inch and a half long, perfect minnow size for hungry trout, steelhead, and landlocked salmon.
Approximate time to complete this order: Up to two weeks
MINIMUM ORDER FOR THIS FLY IS 1 UNIT - 1 UNIT CONSISTS OF 1/2 DOZEN FLIES