WWwwwwwwoooooooooooowwwwwwwww!! mark....
From: "DonO" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [VFB] Ever heard of a bunny clouser? Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2004 11:25:59 -0700
Ginger,
As legend has it, the 'double-bunny' fly was originated by Scott Sanchez for
the One-Fly Contest in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It won the prestigeous
contest like 2 or 3 years running, and was generally kept a secret. Then
the cat got out of the bag and there were double-bunnies multiplying all
over the place.
The bunny-pattern Jerry posted before is very close to the original style
for the DB, but as with all flies, there have been as many variations as
there are tiers. Rabbit strips are nothing new, replacing feathers in many
matuka and streamer patterns. Then comes mink, fox, chinchilla and so on.
Scott's innovation was the over/under approach instead of the zonker bellies
with the fur strip over the top.
The weight distribution on the fly is crucial in how you want the fly to fish, swim, and most important, hesitate or stop. Wire-wrapping the shank or using heavy barbell eyes give two different swimming and stopping motions. I've tied them for bass and pike using large strips with bass rattles glued in between the strips. What one ties on for a head, if anything, also gives much diversity as to how the fly will swim and retrieve.
I've been tying mine with the 'new' bar-dyed rabbit pelts.
http://www.bearlodgeangler.com/Zonkers.htm (no affilaiation) I'll bet
Byard can get them for you, if you ask him nicely and offer him money.
These make for great coloration. I prefer to buy the whole pelts and cut my
own tapered strips from the part of the pelt that best suits the fly I'm
tying. The scraps make interesting dubbing.
As far as bunny-clousers go, there again - variations around a theme. A
Clouser Minnow is not much different than a buck-tail streamer, which has
been around forever. It just has someone's name in front of it and barbell
eyes (not to take away from the fame of the originator). Same with the
deceiver streamers, now all known as Lefty's Deceivers, no matter what they
look like. All of my sailfish and marlin flies are deceiver patterns. They
are more along the line of a Bill Howe profile-fly, which is a large
deceiver pattern.
So take your average everyday Clouser pattern and replace the two colors of
bucktail with same-colored rabbit strips. The profile of the fly will
change due to the immediate density of the rabbit fur (and the bouyancy).
If this is a no-go for you, use the white bucktail for the belly, as normal,
but a trimmed and tapered rabbit-strip for the top side. This will restore
the trim, sparse style of the Clouser Minnow (which it no longer is). Fish
them side-by-side if you can, to check out the swimming properties. You can
take advantage of the differences or try to make it swim more like the
original. Also, try short fox strips instead of long rabbit strips. The
long fox hair replaces the leather strip and imparts great swimming motion.
None of these fur flies are really clousers any more, but salwater
double-bunny flies with barbell eyes.
You probably already know this, but the swimming properties of any fly are affected greatly by the knot used, whether in salt water or fresh water, fishing streamers or nymphs. There is basically the tight knot and the loose knot- and many varieties of each. Some flies need to be snelled for their swimming action. Others need to be on a loop- knot to allow more action. (a different thread)
If you're using bite-tippets or coated wire tippets, try the 'NO-name knot'
(now strangely being called Lefty's NO-name knot- an oxy-moron if ever there
was one). It is the best, quickest loop-knot I've found for attaching flies
to heavy bite-tippets, leaving a very small knot, even in 200lb mono. I
found it in a Saltwater Billfishing Tournament magazine. (a different
thread, too)
Hope this helps.
Don
----- Original Message ----- From: "Ginger Allen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Yes, I guess its the Double Bunny with barbell eyes. > > >>>Ever heard of a bunny clouser? > >
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