Kiwi Muddler – another new zealand inspiration

Kiwi Muddler, Brown Barred Ginger

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Tying Instructions

Tying Instructions: Galloup’s Mini Dungeon

1. Place the hook within the vise. We are using a Daiichi 2220 Streamer hook that is 4X Long with a down eye.

2. Attach the GSP thread about 1/4 position behind the eye. Wrap the thread to the bend of the hook.

3.Moisten the marabou to control the fibers and measure from the hook eye to just beyond the bend of the hook.

4. Secure the bundle of marabou fibers at the bend of the hook.

5. Secure the tag end of the marabou with thread wraps up the shank to just behind the 1/4 position. Trim off the excess marabou tag.

6. Attach the Gold Wire ribbing to the top of the shank at the 1/4 position.

7. Secure the wire along the top of the shank to the bend of the hook.

8. Expose the two threads at the end of the chenille and secure these to the top of the shank at base of the tail.

9. Wrap the chenille forward to the 1/4 position and secure with tight thread wraps. Trim off the tag end.

10. Select a Strung Chinese Hackle and remove the lower barbs to create a clear section of quill stem. Attach this stem to the shank at the 1/4 position with two wraps over the top of the stem and two wraps behind the stem.

11. Trim off the tag end of the hackle and palmer the hackle rearward towards the tail. Rotating hackle pliers work well for this step.

12. Palmer about 6-7 wraps to the base of the tail.

13. Use the wire rib to secure the hackle tip and remove the hackle pliers.

14. Wrap the wire the same number of turns as the hackle up to the 1/4 position.

15. Secure the tag end of the wire with a few tight thread wraps and break off the tag end of the wire.

16. Clip off a number of deer hairs from the hide. It should be about a pencil width.

17. Using hair stacker, even the tips and measure the hair so that the tips extend to about 50% of the shank length.

18. Trim the base of the hair so that the hair is anchored an eye length back from the eye.

19. Apply a couple of tight thread wraps though and tag ends of the hair and a couple of tight wraps directly in front. Now, bring your thumb down on the hair to splay them out. You do not want the hair to move to the side of the shank but stay centered on top of the shank.

20. This is how the hair should look, the tips even and covering 200 degrees of the top shank.

21. Next, clip off a second clump of deer hair. Don’t bother to even the tips but comb the hair to remove any underfur.

22. Place the clump of hair at an angle along the side of the shank. Place one wrap around the clump and the hook shank.

23.Place a second wrap around the clump and tighten. Drawing the thread upwards, the clump will spin one time around the shank.

24. Place a couple more tight thread wraps through the splayed hairs to lock them down.

25. Use a half Hitch tool to lock the thread just behind the eye of the hook.

26. Trim off the tag end of the thread.

27. Use a razor blade to trim hair and shape the head. The top should be a high broad head and the bottom flat.

28. The profile should look something like this.

Materials to Order Material, click the link
Hook	Daiichi 2220 #4-8
Weight	Leadfree Wire, .020
Thread	Veevus GSP Black, 100 denier
Head	Premo Deer Hair, Natural and Tungsten Conehead, Large
Collar	Premo Deer Hair, Natural
Rib	Red Wire, Small
Body	Flashabou Minnow Body, Large
Wing	Brown Barred Magnum Rabbit Strips, Ginger
Overwing	Flashabou, Pearl
Tail	Flashabou Minnow Body, Large
Bleeding Gills	Fl. Orange Rabbit fur

Kiwi Muddler

Jack Dennis designed the Kiwi Muddler in 1968 from a pattern that was sent to him from New Zealand. The original pattern from New Zealand had a thick, stiff rabbit strip that was tied to the top of the shank in a Matuka style. Jack preferred a tanned strip that provided more action and attached the end of the strip to the top of the hook shank just behind the collar. The original body was tan or cream dubbing with a gold mylar ribbing and a tail of dark deer hair. Later, Jack substituted Mylar tubing or Flashabou Minnow Body for the body and the unfurled section of the tubing behind the red wire tie down was the tail. Small Flashabou minnow bodies were used on patterns without a conehead. However, with the conehead, small was too tight to go over the conehead and Jack used larger sizes of the mylar tubing. If you watch the Tom Rosenbauer video, Tom showed that the small tubing can be attached over the hook point rather than the eye.

Jack also used lead wire to weight the streamer for fast moving streams but found that the wet rabbit fur also provided the weight needed to sink without the lead wire. Tungsten Coneheads was a later addition as was the bleeding gills from rabbit fur. Some marketed Kiwi Muddlers have legs added but this is not done with Jack Dennis’ pattern. The pattern is not only very durable but provides plenty of action. Preferred colors are Barred Ginger, White, Black, Rust, and Olive

Variations

A similar pattern, known as the Madonna, came from Ray Schmidt’s Fly Shop in Michigan. This isn’t the first time that similar patterns were derived about the same time period in different regions. Ray acknowledges the similarity and notes that the original Kiwi Muddler was tied Matuka style with the wire ribbing anchoring the strip to the shank. However, Jack Dennis anchors his strips the same way that Ray does. The only aspect that I can see between the two is the body on the Madonna is generally tied using Flat Diamond Braid, not Mylar Tubing.

Kiwi Muddler, Olive

Materials to Order Material, click the link
Hook	Daiichi 2220 #4-8
Weight	Leadfree Wire, .020
Thread	Veevus GSP Black, 100 denier
Head	Premo Deer Hair, Olive and Tungsten Conehead, Large
Collar	Premo Deer Hair, Olive
Rib	Red Wire, Small
Body	Flashabou Minnow Body, Large
Wing	Magnum Rabbit Strips, Olive
Overwing	Flashabou, Pearl
Tail	Flashabou Minnow Body, Large
Bleeding Gills	Fl. Orange Rabbit fur

Madonna, Rust

Materials to Order Material, click the link
Hook	Daiichi 2220 #4-8
Weight	10 wraps of Leadfree Wire, .025
Thread	Veevus GSP Black, 100 denier
Head	Premo Deer Hair, Golden Brown
Collar	Premo Deer Hair, Golden Brown
Body	Flat Diamond Braid, Root Beer
Wing	Magnum Rabbit Strips, Rust
Overwing	Krystal flash, UV Tan

Kiwi Muddler, Black

Materials to Order Material, click the link
Hook	Daiichi 2220 #4-8
Weight	Leadfree Wire, .020
Thread	Veevus GSP Black, 100 denier
Head	Premo Deer Hair, Black and Tungsten Conehead, Large
Collar	Premo Deer Hair, Black
Rib	Red Wire, Small
Body	Flashabou Minnow Body, Large
Wing	Magnum Rabbit Strips, Black
Overwing	Flashabou, Pearl
Tail	Flashabou Minnow Body, Large
Bleeding Gills	Fl. Orange Rabbit fur