One of first flies my
dad wanted me to tie for him, was a wet fly pattern called the Muskrat's
Regret. I had all the materials from
when Dad bought the tying kit, and it was really simple - a Muskrat fur body
with brown hackle , tied palmer-style. That was it.
It was a popular pattern on
Wisconsin rivers like the Brule in those days.
A lot of the old-timers my dad had me tie flies for asked for it, so I
tied a lot of them.
I don't know where the pattern came from or why. It's one of those patterns that represented
almost anything in general and nothing in particular. About all you could say with certainty was
that it represented food, because the
trout sure liked to eat it.