Flies And Finesse

Zonker strips have some of the best action of any tying material. They wave in the water and have great action while also holding a solid profile. Apart from being a solid leech pattern this fly also imitates a sculpin. This fly that I have come up with is a fairly standard zonker leech tied on a circle hook. Circle hooks can be a bit tricky due to the fact that you essentially ignore the bite to set the hook.  Materials needed: 1. Zonker strips of your color choice 2. Dumbell eyes 3. Scud dub or another similar synthetic dubbing 4. A circle hook Step 1. Tie in your dumbell eyes as close to the eye of the hook as you can while still having some room to tie on. Step 2. Tie in your zonker strip upside down. This is done so the strip rides correctly while riding upside down from the dumbell eyes. Step 3. Tie in another zonker strip and wrap it around the hook a couple of times. Step 4. Begin tying in your dubbing by v-tying. For this fly...

Gurgler patterns are highly effective for almost any type of fishing. You can use smaller gurglers for panfish and use the larger ones for saltwater fish such as snook or sea trout. I recommend fishing this fly by either walking the fly on the surface or with long and aggressive strips. Materials needed: 1.Marabou 2.Crystal flash 3.Foam 4.Cactus chenille 5.Streamer hook 6.Gel spun thread Be sure to select all of these to fit your needs for size and color. Step 1. Start your thread base and bring it back to where the bend in your hook begins and then tie in the marabou and flash. Step 2. Tie in a strip of white foam directly in from of the marabou. Step 3. Tie in your cactus chenille and wrap it around the hook shank. Step 4. Bring your foam over the chenille and tie it in near the eye of the hook. Step 5. Make a small loop with your foam so that it hangs over the eye of your hook. After you secure the foam with your thread you...

The meat whistle is a very well known streamer pattern that is essentially just a conehead zonker tied on a jig hook. It has excellent action in the water and is a great fly to fish in the medium to deep rang in ponds. For this tutorial I made my own jig hook by bending a streamer hook with pliers so if you don't have jig hooks I highly recommended doing this for the time being. I also added a stinger hook to increase the hook set ratio. Materials needed: 1. A jigged streamer hook 2. A stinger hook(optional) 3. Zonker strip in your choice of color 4. Rubber legs 5. Crystal flash 6. Dubbing 7. Thread 8. Copper cone head Step 1. Create a thread dam at the front end of the jig hook. This blocks the conehead from sliding down toward the hook eye which better balances the fly. Always add head cement to the exposed thread after whip finishing to increase durability. Step 2. Add a cone head and start your thread just behind it. Bring your thread to around where the...

 This is a fly I just recently came up with and it will work well during spring and summer time when minnows are schooling. This fly is best fished with long strips followed by a couple of fast strips and a pause. This will make the zonker strip tail flow to imitate a minnow’s tail. The head of this fly is tied with a technique I learned from McFlyangler and fly fish food. It is achieved by flattening stacks of ep fibers between your fingers and then spreading them around the hook evenly. Materials needed:  Thread  Rabbit zonker strip Ep fibers Sharpies or other markers(optional) Glue on 3d eyes Step 1: start your thread a little ways back on your hook to mark a point to start your ep fiber head and then bring your thread to the bend of the hook Step 2: measure out your rabbit zonker to fit your hook length and then tie it in directly on top of the hook. Once you’ve done this you can cut your tag on the zonker strip to stop right before the spot you marked to start the he...

The mylar zonker uses mylar tubing to create profile and flash but also has zonker on top of it for motion in the water. This fly can be tied weighted or unweighted depending on where you fish. Mylar tubing is a very difficult material to work with but it can produce some great flies so it's worth learning to work with.  Materials needed: 1. Zonker strip 2. Mylar tubing 3. Streamer hook 4. Thread 5. Lead wire (optional) Step 1. Apply a small amount of adhesive to the the hook to help add durability. You also can wrap some wire around the middle of the hook of you want to add some weight. Step 2. Push your mylar tubing to the back of the hook and start your thread above it. The mylar tubing is super slippery against the hook so secure it as tightly as you can. It is useful to use gsp thread for this reason. Step 3. Tie in your zonker strip and whip finish. I usually will also apply some head cement over the exposed thread. Step 4. Star...

The simi seal leech is a great pattern for warmwater or stillwater fishing. For this tutorial I added legs to the simi seal leech to give it more action than usual. Leech patterns always work exceptionally well when fished around dense cover or brush. Materials: 1. Simi seal dub 2. Streamer hook in your choice size 3. Rubber legs 4. A bead that fist with your hook 5. Thread Step 1. Put your bead on your hook and bring the thread back to the point where the bend of the hook begins. Step 2. V tie simi seal dub to create a tail and tie in 3 legs on either side of the hook. Step 3. Create a dubbing loop with simi seal dub to form the body of this fly. Step 4. Tie in 3 more legs on either side of the hook up front and whip finish. Your fly is now complete and ready to be fished. I recommend fishing this fly aggressively in still water to create motion with the legs. When fishing moving water you can fish this pattern a bit more slo...

 The zoo couger is a classic fly pattern for trout and bass that was developed by Kelly Galloup. It’s deer hair head sheds water and dives when used with a sinking line. The fly is best fished with a hard strip then a pause. Materials needed: Thread of choice(preferably GSP for the deer hair) Marabou Deer hair Mallard flank Dubbing Tinsel Step 1: start your thread a little ways behind the hook eye to mark where you will start your deer hair head. End your thread between the barb and the hook point and make a small thread bulb to support the marabou Step 2: tie in your tinsel right in front of the marabou. After this wrap dubbing up to just shy of where you started the thread to leave room for a mallard flank feather Step 3: wrap your tinsel through the dubbing to further secure it to the hook shank and add a little bit of flash to the body Step 4: tie in your mallard flank feather with the concave side facing down. You can also add a little bit of calf tail or deer hair to help sup...

Leeches are great streamers to have in your box. When fished on bass beds or near shelter they can get a ton of strikes and have incredible action. Leeches are highly effective for bass and crappie on beds or around brush but can also catch plenty of trout and even pike. This fly is about as simple as it gets when it comes to leeches. It is loosely based on the creek leech but is a pretty generic leech pattern. Materials needed: Olive zonker strip Rubber legs Tan dubbing Streamer hook Dumbell eyes Olive thread Step 1. Bring the thread a short distance back from the hook eye. You will need enough space to tie in a pair of dumbell eyes with some room to spare for the zonker strip later on. Step 2. Tie in your dumbell eyes using x-wraps. The dumbell eyes on this pattern help it sink down in the water column more quickly and also provide a bit of jigging action on the water. Once you have a fair amount of thread on the eyes you can apply a small drop of adhesive and...