St. Vrain Angler Presents:

Tying The MudZonk

by Dale Darling

   It's a funny name, but a good fly. This pattern may look a bit intimidating at first, but it's really not. Just tie it a step at a time and enjoy the process. You may also decide to tie this one with a cone head, which is a fine idea.

MudZonk Recipe

    Hook: 3-4X Streamer hook in #2-10.

    Weight the body with lead that is the diameter of the hook wire.

    Thread: 140 Red for tying in Zonker Strip and White for spinning hair head.

    Zonker Strip: a color you like!

    Body: This one uses crystal chenille. You may dub, use other chenille or flash.

    Flash: Over the wing, and whatever you want.

    Throat: Red rabbit or other material; try wrapping red shlappen.

    Deer Hair Collar: use a color that you like, and that has good tips.

    Deer Hair Head: spin hair of choice. This one combines white belly hair dyed orange with natural light deer hair. Combine as you please. Make it more mottled, or solid to your taste and how much time you want to spend tying the fly.

Tying The MudZonk.

1. Remove the barb, add cone head if you're going to, and mount hook in vise. Always be certain the hook is mounted firmly so it does not slip when spinning hair.

2. Wind weight around hook shank from just in front of the point of the hook to about the 3/4 point of the hook shank. Leave plenty of room for the head to be spun.

3. Start orange or red 140 Thread, and tie in front, through and behind the lead to hold it in place.

4. Build a good thread base behind the lead and leave the thread hang just in front of the barb of the hook.

5. Select a strip of Rabbit Fur in the color of your choice. Be sure the fibers flow to the rear of the hook and place the tip of the fur strip so it is even with a position just in front of the lead.

6. Wet fingers and separate the fur over the thread to expose the skin. Tie in with thread. Make multiple wraps forward and back to make a firm tie-in.

7. Pull the skin back over the bend of the hook, move thread forward to the back of the lead.

8. Select and tie in body material. Move thread forward to back of head of fly, and start the white thread over the red and clip away the red to change threads

9. Wind body material forward so it is even with the lead, then make one more wrap. Tie off and clip excess.

10. Pull rabbit strip over top of body and tie off. Stretch the strip so it is lying flat on the body. Tie it off well, and trim any excess material that is left in front.

11.    Select red rabbit and tie in on bottom of hook shank to create gills.

12.    Select a few strands of krystal flash or flashabou of choice and tie in over the rabbit.

13.    Now comes the fun part: flaring and spinning hair. There is a difference. When we flare hair we hold it in position and add thread tension to get the hair to flare. When w spin hair we hold the hair in position to start the thread over it and then continue to pull and spin the hair around the hook shank. Flaring hair keeps the hair in one position; spinning hair makes it go all the way around the hook shank. Practice, my friend, on a hook shank before tying this fly!

In the shot at left, notice that the orange hair is on top of the hook shank, covering the tie-in for the wing and collar. The evened tips of the deer hair - elk would work well here, too - are projecting over the back of the body. The butts were cut before the hair was flared so they are shorter, but still flared to fill the tie-in area for the hair. They will be trimmed as a part of the head.

The next picture shows the first spin of natural deer hair. Note the collar, which is still in place, and the orange butts which are on the top. The natural hair goes all the way around the hook shank. This is the first spin of hair. If it is not in the right spot, or has too much or too little hair, just untie it and try again. Note the hair was trimmed so the tips are gone and the hair is relatively short so it does not mix with the red rabbit throat or the collar. This help when trimming the hair.

This shot shows a second flare and second spin. Note the longer orange hair on the top, and the full collar of natural hair in front. The longer orange was added to top by putting the thread in front of the other orange hair, then flaring this hair with two strong pulls of thread. Again, the tips were cut away and just the butts are flared.

The natural collar was then added by placing the thread in front of the other hair, which had been pushed back so it is stacked together, and then trimmed hair was spun in front. All of the hair was then pushed back, a whip finish made and the hair is ready to trim.

When trimming, begin with the bottom of the fly. Trim the hair flat. Don't trim the red rabbit throat. Turn the fly in your rotating vise, or in your fingers as the case may be, and trim with even cuts. Begin by making the head rather square, then round it off by tapering from the eye back at the same angle as the orange collar.

The picture at the left is a top view of the trimmed head; the one at the right is of a side view. Trim the heads to the size and shape you like.

When complete, put several drops of head cement on the underside of the hair so it penetrates. The cement will dry on the thread and the hook shank making the head more durable and less likely to spin.

Now, tie more!

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