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Zonker

A streamer, tied #2–8, carried year round. It is tied against 3 named insects in this book, and stands in when nothing is hatching — all year.

A baitfish streamer built around a rabbit strip that keeps breathing when the fly stops moving, which is why the pause matters more than the strip. It is tied on a 4X long streamer hook in sizes 2 through 8 with white 6/0 thread, over an underbody of flat silver mylar wrapped on a weighted shank, the rabbit zonker strip forming both wing and tail and tied down at the bend, a grizzly hackle collar at the front, and dumbbell eyes if wanted. The result is a great deal of movement for very little effort on the angler's part, and it is swung or stripped through coloured water. It is carried all season and tied against a crayfish, Orconectes spp., from May through October in water of 55 to 78 degrees, and a sculpin, Cottus spp., all year from 33 to 72 degrees. It also searches when no hatch is on, for trout, smallmouth bass and steelhead.

What it looks like

A drawing, not a photograph, and not traced from one. Its proportions were read off 5 independent reference photographs of the pattern and written down as 5 measured characteristics — wing angle, tail length against the shank, how far a hackle fibre reaches — every one of which had to hold across more than one of them before it could be drawn. What survives across many photographs of a fly is the fly.

A strip of rabbit hide with the fur still on, laid down the back. In the water it undulates like nothing tied from feathers can, which is why it passes for a wounded baitfish. Drawn at #6 — 32.5 mm of shank and 8.2 mm of gape on a Tiemco 100.
#2#4#6#810 mm
The bare hook at every size this pattern is tied in, all to the same scale. There is no industry standard behind a hook number, so these are Tiemco 100 measurements and another maker's 2 will differ a little.

What it imitates

Each of these is the same hatch record the app's own panel reads, so a pattern recommended on a river card in the app is recommended for one of the insects below.

It is also tagged for no hatch at all — a searching pattern.

Tying recipe

In tying order. This dressing is the standard one — these patterns have been in the publicrecord for decades — and materials substitute freely: the proportions and the silhouette are the pattern, not the brand of dubbing.

Hook4X long streamer hook, sizes 2–8
ThreadWhite 6/0
UnderbodyFlat silver mylar over a weighted shank
Wing / tailRabbit zonker strip, tied down at the bend
CollarGrizzly hackle
EyesOptional dumbbell

When to fish it

A baitfish with a lot of movement for very little effort. Swung or stripped in coloured water.

Carried all year. The insects it matches are active all year, in water from 33°F to 78°F.

Target species

Rivers it fishes well

Rivers with a page here that sit in the regions where the insects this pattern imitates are recorded. It is a claim about coverage, not a report of a fish caught.

Related patterns

Same type of fly, or tied for the same insects.

Open the trout map →Every trout stream near you, coloured by today's water temperature.