What it is
Hareline Pine Squirrel Skins are soft-tanned pine squirrel hides with short, dense, mottled hair. The tanning makes the skin durable and easy to cut, and that dense fur gives a naturally buggy, “alive” look when it’s wrapped or dubbed on a hook.
What to tie with it
Cut it into zonker strips for small streamers and micro leeches, or trim clumps for tails and short-wing work. You can also shave or pinch-fur dubbing from the hide for buggy bodies and thoraxes on nymphs and emergers, especially when you want a tight, dense profile on smaller patterns.
Flies and the fish they're for
Pine squirrel is a go-to for micro leeches and small zonkers fished for trout, especially in stillwaters and spring creeks where fish can get selective about size and movement. Used as dubbing, it fits right into classic Catskill-style tying like the Bradley Special, where it can help build a buggy body or thorax for trout dry-fly and emerger fishing on rivers and creeks.