Zonker Wing Problems

[Oak Crick]

I was up to Red Castle for a couple of days fishing with mostly streamers. My Zonker patterns did'nt hold up well. I tie the rabbit strip at the bend and eye with wire. Is it better to wrap the wire the full length of the wing like you would with a Matuka?

[LIV2FSH]

I use Zap-A-Gap along the whole shank to glue the strip down and have had no problems with the rabbit coming undone.

Another thing I do is when I'm building my mylar tubing bodies, I coat them liberaly with Soft Tex and let them dry for at least a few hours before continuing, this helps them become bullet proof!

Hope this helps, Bruce.

[MOKE]

Good call on the zap a gap.
I use zonkers in the ocean alot. Toothy fish reside here.
I also love zonkers for big toothy brown.

A wonderful effect can be achieved if you build the body w/out the rabbit strip.
You epoxy coat the whole mylar tubing portion w/ 5 min epoxy, let it dry.
Then come back and attach the rabbit strip with a wrap and whip at the bend.
Zap a Gap or sparing epoxy application will hold the strip down.
Finish the fly as normal. I like plastic pearlescent string bead eyes (not steel bead chain). These eyes get figured eight onto the shank. You can color the center of the eyes thread with a felt pen for realism.

The epoxy give a depth and translucense to the mylar body that the mylar can't achieve on its own. Especially neat effects such as parr markings can be put in as well with felt pens or mixed in with UTC colorants.
Really neat effect, and makes a big difference with toothy fish.

Hope this helps.

MOKE

I didn't mention politics or religion at all in this post...until this ;)