FLY
Salmon/ Steelhead Fly
Rusty Rat
Tied by Rich LaMonte
Rusty Rat recipe
| Hook | Partridge Low Water Salmon hook size 1/0 |
|---|---|
| Thread | Lagartun 74 denier black |
| Tag | lagartun small silver oval tinsel |
| Tail | Peacock Sward fibers |
| Rib | lagartun medium silver oval.tinsel |
| Body | Orange/brown/ rust color Japanese silk |
| Throat | Grizzly hen hackle |
| Underwing | section of floss same color as the body |
| Wing | Gray Squirrel tail |
| Head | Red thread with clear varnish |
What the Rusty Rat imitates
- Fancy / attractor (imitates nothing specific)
Where the Rusty Rat came from
- Originated by Joseph Clovis Arseneault, 1949, Atholville, New Brunswick (Restigouche). Copied a chewed Black Rat whose rusty underthread showed after Pulitzer took a big salmon on it; one author warns such stories are often apocryphal.Source: The 'Rusty Rat' (Restigouche River Lodge); At the Vise: Rusty Rat (California Fly Fisher)
- Named by Joseph Pulitzer, 1949, Restigouche River. Pulitzer named the copies the Rusty Rat.Source: The 'Rusty Rat' (Restigouche River Lodge)
- Derived from Roy Angus Thompson (RAT series). Says the RAT series came from Roy Angus Thompson, whose initials gave the name; a lodge account credits the series to Arseneault instead.Source: At the Vise: Rusty Rat (California Fly Fisher); RAT series (Fly Tying Archive, pointing to Bates)
Where sources tell it differently, each account is listed with its own source.
Inside the vault every material on this fly opens to its own card, and you can save the fly to your own boxes.
