Zonker

Streamer

Tied By Christian Andrews

Hook: #8 – 14 streamer

Thread: to match beard (red, orange)

Materials-

body: mylar tubing

tail: rabbit zonker (or squirrel)

beard: soft hen hackle (red, orange)

Notes:

from The Basic Manual of Fly-Tying by Fling & Puterbaugh

Cut a piece of mylar tubing a bit longer than hook shank; fray one end of tubing
Tie in thread above barb
Slide tubing over hook shank with frayed end around the bend and over the thread tie in
Thread wrap tubing at hook bend; cinch down and secure with a whip knot; clip thread
Pull eye end of tubing toward bend and tie in thread an eye length behind eye; thread wrap eye end of tubing at tie in point to secure tubing and create the bait-fish belly; secure thread with a whip knot and clip thread
Cut a strip of rabbit zonker so the leather is the length of the hook shank plus an eye and half the tubing tail; be careful to cut only the leather so there is a fur tail
Reattach the thread at the tail tie in point
Lay zonker strip on top of body material so leather is over eye and halfway over tubing tail; split the hare hair at the rear thread tie in point (it helps to wet the fur to pull forward and rearward at the split); thread wrap over the zonker at the split to secure the strip to the top of the hook shank above the barb; secure with a whip knot; clip thread
Reattach thread an eye length behind eye; split the zonker fur at tie in point and thread wrap over the leather strip to secure zonker at front of hook; clip off extra zonker at an angle away from the eye
Invert the hook
Prepare a V-notched hen soft hackle of desire color: red, orange (clip out the tip of the feather, separate 4 to 6 fibers on each side of the stem and pull the remaining fibers toward the feather butt end)
Attach the V-notched hackle to the top of the hook (underside since the hook is inverted) just behind the eye so that the fibers extend toward the hook point; pull down and away on the butt end of the hackle to adjust the beard to a gape length; tie in and clip the extra hackle butt end
Re-invert the hook; wrap in a streamer head; whip finish; cement both the head and tail knot.