Zonkers on Partridge Sea Prince #2 & #4, a quick tie that will work well both after browns and sea-run trout.
zonker
Black Zonker Tube
For the salmon box I have tied up a batch of black zonkers to use by night (great profile when fished across a pool), tied it up with different colors tag and hackle to have some to choose between.
The body is black sealsfur dubbing and the zonker I have cut from a rabbit skin I got earlier this year.
Muddler + Zonker
Hook: TMC811S #4
Thread: UNI 6/0 Black
Tail: Rabbit Zonker
Body: A.Jensen Saltwater Dub ll White
Head: Roe
Earlier this winter I got a Roe skin, and before that some Rabbit skins, and since it is seatrout season start around these parts of the world I thought I would tie up some muddler/zonker variants to bring with me.
This is the first time I’ve tied up anything muddler-like for seatrout, but if you have the basics of spinning hair this is not very hard to do. I chose the TMC811S since with its short shank and very durable design (I really like this hook!), I also tied in some rubber legs on some variants to see how they will behave and look in the water.
Some shorter rubber legs:
They are not small, but neither are they super-big, so my #6 will have no problem swinging these over easter.
I had to go down to the city and get some smaller versions of this hook and tie up some on the 811S #8. This have some added lead to bring it down.
Spey Zonker
Hook: Alec Jackson Spey #1.5
Thread: UNI 6/0 Red
Tag: Lagartun French Tinsel, UNI-Floss Red
Body: UNI-Floss Black
Rib: Lagartun French Tinsel
Wing: Rabbit zonker
Hackle: Ringneck Rump Hackle
Head: Loon Hard Head Red
I have done some variants of this on tube earlier this winter, and after testing it earlier this week I had to tie this up on the Alec Jackson Spey #1.5 hook as well. The zonker and the Ringneck hackle makes this a brilliantly simple pattern that should be in any box, either for seatrout or salmon.
Rabbit Skins
One of my projects this winter will be dig deeper into materials, and first out is a project to dye skins and material to see how that is done and to get more familiar with creating things from scratch. First out is rabbit skins: I got some skins the other day that I will start using for my tying. I ordered a natural brown to create the Kutling, a white to experiment with dying and a black for general zonker strips.
I tested out some different ways of cutting zonkers, but ended up with a method of creating your own zonker cutter on youtube. This has proven to work and I get consistent strips to work with. The natural brown rabbit I got had some long hairs and some good spiky tips that is perfect for the Kutling.
Here is a version where I used silver fox for the tail (instead of spey hackle) and a white salt-water dubbing from A. Jensen
Another version, but this time with a orange salt-water dubbing from A-Jensen
I have tied up a set of these and will test them out later on, but I’m quite happy with the material so far and the next thing to do is to order color to start dying that white skin. I also plan to look into bleaching and maybe buing a whole Roe skin to color and use for tying. But first things first: more rabbit!
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