Rabbit Zonker Hide Whole

Rabbit Zonker Hide Whole

A whole rabbit hide's worth of zonker strips
Excellent value for money

Soft flexible Rabbit Zonker strips on a whole hide, cut to a standard width of 3mm or 6mm Magnum

If you prefer smaller packs of rabbit zonker strips.

Video: Tie an Easy Zonker fly.

Wrapping Tails Revisited
July 2013 StreamX Newletter

This month's contribution comes from Edward Truter. Commenting on preventing zonker tail wrapping he says
" Many years ago I put my head to this problem and came up with a solution that I way prefer to the plastic straw option.

Tie in a secion of trabbit zonker at the tail of the hook. Then tie in the zonker strip from the hide. Snip off the excess strip, one only needs a short butt of it. Then apply contact to the top of the strip and the underside of the zonker strip and glue together with diluted contact adhesive. Done.

The nice thing about this technique is that it can be used with pretty small flies and is a way of adding a colour highlight. Plus the leather adds more chunkyness and bite to the fly for when the fish mouths it than does a piece of plastic. Also, the leather strip is not as much of a leader killer as the straw is. For near surface or surface patterns I do the same thing but substitue 2-3mm foam strip for the leather strip.

Another option is to stiffen the underside of the zonker strip with a layer of UV glue, just a short section directly behind the tie in point. If sufficiently stiffened, it won't wrap. If one is going to use the approach indidcated in your tips, a better idea is to use the style of tying that is used for tailing the marabou tail version of the Tarpon Toad, i.e. simply tie in your tail but leave the bobbin and thread in place, then take the fly out of the vice and holding the hook shank in one hand and the tail in the other, spin the bobbin around the base of the tail forming a short section of tight wraps. Treat this thread with a flexible coating (UV cure, thinned Genkem which is my main tying glue, Daves Flexament, whatever), then proceed as your tip suggests where the wing of the fly covers the wrapped section. Again the advantage of this technique is that there's no hard plastic in the fly."