Fly ID - bunny leech?

[salmonoid]

Apologies for the lousy photo but it should show the essential elements of this fly.

The story behind this:

While fishing Donegal Creek (Lancaster County) this spring, I kept getting hung up in the stream channel on the opposite side of the stream. Finally, after the umpteenth time of getting caught, I waded out into the stream, and freed my fly, producing a three foot long branch. Naturally, this had collected a few flies, which I dutily freed as well, and added to my stash. I figure I give some to others in the same manner, and this was replacement time. The fly in the photo was added to the stash at that time.

I didn't fish it, but happened upon it Wednesday night of last week, while packing for a trip to Potter County, and threw it in the box. I also decided, since I was planning to do some night fishing, and since I had managed to horse in a 21" brown on the 3wt I normally fish on this trip, but wasn't confident I could horse another one in, that I would put in my backup 8 wt steelhead rod in the pack.

Fast forward to about 2AM Friday morning, when I woke up, with the urge to lighten the bladder. A thunderstorm had blown through about an hour earlier. About five hours earlier, I had broken the tip of my 3 wt Wayfarer into three pieces, which made the decision to carry the second rod seem pretty smart. I fished the fly in the photo as a dropper fly, underneath a hopper. I landed a nice 14" brown on the dropper fly, and missed one other one underneath, and two on the hopper.

So thats how I came to be carrying a steelhead rod on a native brookie stream, and caught a brownie on a fly I borrowed from Donegal... but what is it? It has a copper tubing body, a tail that looks like a strip of rabbit fur and is on a size six hook.

 

[sniperfreak223]

Zonker.

 

[bam]

It's made to ride hook point up. Sonker and flash on the top and body/gills underneath make that a baitfish pattern.

 

[govtmule]

damn!...what size hopper supported the zonker?

 

[salmonoid]

Thanks for the replies - for some reason, the recipe I had looked at for a Zonker, at one point, did not have the rabbit strip in it, but looked like a much bushier wooly bugger.

I was fishing just a regular old hopper - maybe size ten. It was the middle of the night, with only some ambient moon light behind heavy clouds, but it supported the Zonker fairly well, as I could see enough to watch the hopper move across the pool, so I know it was riding fairly high.

 

[thesmayway]

HEY THAT'S MY ZONKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I fish them in donegal when the big stockies won't bite anything else. You could drift a million flies right over a 19" fish's head but they don't budge until a zonker comes over... can't resist a big easy meal I guess.

... that one might not be mine, but I have definitely lost a few zonkers on donegal!!

 

[pcray1231]

Forget the fly, thats one heck of a get up you got goin on there.

 

[salmonoid]

thesmayway wrote:
HEY THAT'S MY ZONKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I fish them in donegal when the big stockies won't bite anything else. You could drift a million flies right over a 19" fish's head but they don't budge until a zonker comes over... can't resist a big easy meal I guess.

... that one might not be mine, but I have definitely lost a few zonkers on donegal!!

Ha! I thought someone might lay claim to said fly, if I posted a photo of it. I figured I've left enough of my own up there, including a nice wooly bugger in a big rainbow this spring. It really would be quite ironic if this was one of your zonkers!

 

[salmonoid]

pcray1231 wrote:
Forget the fly, thats one heck of a get up you got goin on there.

Works pretty well for backpacking/fishing. One regular Gregory Baltoro pack, one William Joseph Coastal pack. Good for hiking in five miles and hiking back out a few miles to a second base camp with all one's gear (although it makes the stealthy approach on a small brookie a wee bit difficult). At the base camp, dump the Gregory, and fish the remaining tributaries with just the fishing pack (plus feel like you've lost forty pounds to boot)! I bought a William Joseph Exodus last year, based on its claim of being 3100 cubic inches, and with the hope of having a single pack that would work for an ultralight overnight trip. Turns out, that in addition to the bad batch of poorly sized waders from a few years ago, Willie J had a major typo on their cubic inch calculations, and it wasn't even half that size. So I went back to the heavier Gregory and Willie J packs..

And for the rest of the get up; a pair of wading pants, a pair of wading boots (with marginable hikeable soles), a pair of Bug Barrier mesh over the pants (to help protect from underbrush poking holes in the wading pants), and a pair of Outdoor Research gaiters, to help even more from briars and nettles and knee high felled trees from destroying the pants. Glad I had them - the trail out on the one stream was all but invisible because of the briars, alders, and blowdowns.