Heading out to do some more fishing tomorrow and sat down with a strip of white rabbit zonker and tied up some variations on the same theme: some with eye, some shorter and on different hooks. I prefer to tie up and fish different styles to see how they behave when they actually sit on the end of a tippet, so it will be a friday with experiments on these (and some baitfish). Which one would you tie up if you got handed these?
Back when I was a kid I used to fish a lot (a serious amount!), and my only seatrout ever taken must have been when I was 10-12 years: it was taken on a lure and weighed in at a hefty 2kg! Since then I haven’t taken any seatrout, and since I picked up flyfishing a couple of years back I have never tried much to target them. This year, however, I find myself wanting to expand the (freshwater) trout-season in Oslo, so I have started tying up some flies for saltwater (zonkers, baitfish) to go around the Oslo fjord area targeting seatrout.
On friday after work I got on the bus and headed out to a spot that is supposedly seatrout area. On the second throw two mackerels followed in after my white zonker and on the fifth cast a seatrout was on! Frankly I was a bit shocked when the trout suddenly sprang 50cm up into the air and raced towards land so I never had a chance to keep a tight line. I never landed that one…..
During the afternoon I had several fish very interested in the baitfish, and they were even hitting it and following it in towards land, but nothing actually was hooked. Finally I got this little seatrout on a baitfish, and it had the same behaviour as the first: raced towards land so I ended up with half my line in a tangle after I landed it, but it did end up in my net! So: first ever seatrout on fly, not a big one, but a good start for the winter season here in Oslo.
I put on the orange Rabbit Zonker towards the end and I had one fish on that did the classic *thug-thug*, never hooked properly, and was gone…. That one must have been 1kg plus, but I don’t know if it was a seatrout, so I might head out there again tomorrow to see if it still is in the area!
Can’t complain about the weather on days like this….
Hook: Dai-Riki 899 #6
Thread: UNI 6/0 Black
Tail/Body: Single strip of Rabbit Zonker, Tan
Never worked with Zonkers before, but this might be the simplest one yet: a single strip of Rabbit zonker, wrapped around the hook, tied in with thread. I fished this last weekend and got myself a Pollock, so I know it works. The Zonker really flows in the water: the tail and the body hair on this makes for very fluid motion. Of course I had to get a couple of other colors for the sea-trout fishing I’m going for this weekend.
Hook: TMC 811S #6
Thread: UNI 6/0 Black
Tail: Hareline Extra Select Craft Fur White, Angel Hair
Body: Hareline Solid Tinsel Chenille Pearl
Wing: Hareline Extra Select Craft Fur White/Black
Head: Hareline Adhesive Holographic Eyes 3/16 Red, Bug-Bond
I have fished some in saltwater before, but haven’t had much luck when it comes to actually catching anything(!?!). But: I was on vacation last week and ended up when the tidal went out underneath a bridge, causing a strong current where I spotted a lot of fish. I put on this baitfish on my #6 rod and got 30minutes of Mackerel fun: pulling in fast I saw the mackerel hitting this fly hard! More pictures on that later, but this is my take on a baitfish pattern that was very successful. It becomes quite slim in the water and should trigger the fish if pulled in fast high in the water
Add a loop of mono at the end of the hook, I use quite a thick one
Tie in craft fur above the guard
Tie off the craft fur properly ( the fish might hit this fly hard )
Add some angel hair (not needed, but adds some glimmer to the fly)
Tie in the tinsel
Wrap the tinsel, forming a body. I don’t mind much if the body is even or straigth
Add more white craft fur as underwing
Add black craft fur as top-wing and tie of the fly with a decent head since you want a place to glue on the eyes. I vary between black, brown and green for the top-wing to create variations
I use some zap-a-gap to glue the eyes to the thread
Apply bug-bond to form a head
The material needed for this fly
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