Double Bunnies

[Fred]

I'm tying a few of these and wondered if anyone has experience fishing these flies at the Berry, around here, or anywhere. I was fishing up near Cody, WY last summer and a guy up there was just killin em with an olive double bunny.

I'm using this recipe (the second one):

http://www.akflyfishers.org/fom_double_bunny.html

[MOKE]

I love Bunny flies of all types!!
Other favorites;
Bunny Buggers, Goblins, Leeches, Zonkers
http://www.flyline.com/1flys/goblin.htm - Goblin Pattern by Ralph Cutter

I like a Bunny Bugger in a two tone patterning...i.e., olive body with a black "zonker-style top wing".
Heavily weighted at the head, this is a great sculpin pattern, and purely simple to tie.

There is something really "fish catching" in the qualities of that material.
I have caught several saltwater species on bunny flies also.

I've tied this style black, olive and purple Bunny Buggers for years, and found out about this head style on my own doing. Natural curiosities and progression.
http://www.akflyfishers.org/nuclic.html
Its odd how many similarities go around as incidental similar styles.
This guy calls his "Nuclic"...I referred to mine as "Electric".
I saw someone else mention this similarity thing in regards to grayling flies for Scandi waters.

MOKE

[Jason]

Fred, so when you were up near Cody, were you fishing stillwater or rivers? Just curious.

Double Bunnies are a good pattern when the situation is right and streamer fishing is hot. I've only caught a few 12 inch Browns on the Provo and nothing in lakes on the DB. I know people that swear by them, but I prefer the Zonker over the DB.

[Fred]

Jason,

I went up there last July with my father. We floated the Big Horn near Thermopolis one day, then went up and fished Monster Lake and a couple of other lakes near Cody. It was a guy at Monster Lake that was fishing the olive double bunny. His name is Steve and works there. He went out on a kickboat and you would hear him hoot and hollar every five minutes cause he had a fish on. After talking to him, I told myself that I was going to try the double bunny at the Berry, but never got around to it last fall. So, I'm trying it now.

Moke,

Thanks for the info. That goblin pattern is weird looking. Good name for it.

[MOKE]

The Goblin is a weird one for sure.
This is the big fish fly for the Truckee!
It was the inspiration for my putting a zonker wing on my Bunny Buggers.

Does anyone else tie a two tone Bunny Bugger?

Ahhhh!!! Streamer season is coming!!!
Its time to polish up the old 7 weight and go dredging.
Nasty, blowy, sleeting days at 33 degrees and miserable as can be imagined!
Big heavy wire weighted flies.
The only thing I'd rather be doing is standing in an unknown little coastal stream looking for chromers, while getting pelted by rain so hard you can't see your rod tip.
And then you hook electricity in its purest form!!!

I've got to figure out a way to get out there somehow.
I could give a hoot about summer. (did I actually say that?)
Fall is almost here!!!

MOKE

[truttafly]

Fall is in the air!!!

[truttafly]

Sounds like the Gualala, Navarro or Russian of No Cal?

[MOKE]

Sounds like you know the coast.

The Gualala and Garcia Rivers are a couple of precious gems.
There are smaller more sacred waters to the north and south.

My friend is a guide and ranger in the Sinkyone Wilderness area, and he gives me a dose of "Forget Medicine" after I leave his streams.... ;)

Where were we?
MOKE

[coreyk]

Anyone have a good DB recipe ... The www.akflyfishers.org links are dead. Would like to tie-up something similar to http://www.orvis.com/store/productchoice.aspx?pf_id=959P&bhcp=1 ... Thanks!

[Dave Jabronie]

for what species?

here's a good step by step link

http://www.hatchesmagazine.com/page/june2006/196

[Nich]

Anyone have a good DB recipe ... The www.akflyfishers.org links are dead. Would like to tie-up something similar to http://www.orvis.com/store/productchoice.aspx?pf_id=959P&bhcp=1 ... Thanks!

Cory hit me up I used to fish them a ton and have quite a few tips and tricks.

[UtahFlyGuy]

Cory hit me up I used to fish them a ton and have quite a few tips and tricks.

Cor you better get ahold of Nick. Its all business this time of year and he isnt goof'n around. Right Nick?

[FlyRx]

This has been a helpful step by step for me http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw2/112105fotw.php I really enjoy Val-A tearmender when bonding rabbit hide together. I picked up mine at my local Ace hardware store. I also found the recommended color combinations of rabbit hide helpful.

But more specifically to your Orvis link, I tie one similar - here's what works for me. There probably is a much easier way, but I was just using the materials I had on hand. Prepare your hook with eyeballs, conehead, or whatever lead wraps you need. Prepare your bunny strips, to be lashed to the hook. (If your not experienced with rabbit hide take note of how the hair lays etc.) At the bend of the hook I tie in crystal flash fibers, with the fibers extending well beyond behind the hook. At this same tie in point I lash on the bunny strip that rides on top of the hook shank. I also slip on the bottom bunny strip over the hook point, but I do not lash this one on with thread. (You will probably have to remove the hook from your vice momentarily) Advance the thread to the tie off point up by the hook eye, conehead, lead eyes whatever. Wrap the crystal flash, (the part that is lying forward towards the hook eye - not the tail material) around the hook shank and tie it off with thread. At this point I epoxy the crystal flash, and lay the bunny hide directly onto the wet epoxy, and tie the bunny strips in at the tie off point. The tricky part is keeping the rabbit fur or hair out of the epoxy. Easier said than done, the epoxy step could be avoided, it just makes for a more durable fly.

Hope this long ramble made sense.

[Nich]

Cor you better get ahold of Nick. Its all business this time of year and he isnt goof'n around. Right Nick?

It's hog wranglin' season and it's making money season for me the next 3 months. Will somebody tell me why the hell they have to be at the same time. After this weekend it's back to fishing once a week till Feb. How can somebody live like this? Once a week are you F'ing (Edit for the kids) serious?

Ok now back on subject. FlyRX that was some quality info and a great link (thats straight from the creator himself). One tip to bonding the two rabbit strips together: Wet you fingers and run in along the rabbit and strip. That way it gets most of the fibers out of the way and you are less likely to screw the damn thing up.

[cheech]

You ain't legit unless you can fish at least 3 times a week, and let everyone on the internet know about it.

P.S. I clobbered them at Pelican's Saturdee.

[Nich]

You ain't legit unless you can fish at least 3 times a week, and let everyone on the internet know about it.

P.S. I clobbered them at Pelican's Saturdee.

Yeah everybody knows that! Right? I have money for you, do you have flies?

[FlyRx]

This thread is diverting..... sorry for the unrelated pelican hotspot.... I had a blast last Wed. on pelican as well. Practically had the place to myself- just me and the ducks

[Scudslug]

I don't know if this is diverting the thread, but what are your preferred methods of fishing these big crazy flys? Gallup recommends the jerk, strip retrieve with unweighted flys with a full sinking line. Others describe cone heads or heavy flys with a swing retrieve focusing on the strips as the fly is directly down stream. I play around with everything and haven't settled on a prefered method yet.

[coreyk]

Thanks for the links, info, and tips! Fantastic info ... I'll try tie a few of these bad boys up this next week and post a pic or two.

Cory hit me up I used to fish them a ton and have quite a few tips and tricks.

Thanks Nich .. I'll ping you today. AND yes it does suck to only fish once a week! lol ...

I don't know if this is diverting the thread, but what are your preferred methods of fishing these big crazy flys? Gallup recommends the jerk, strip retrieve with unweighted flys with a full sinking line. Others describe cone heads or heavy flys with a swing retrieve focusing on the strips as the fly is directly down stream. I play around with everything and haven't settled on a prefered method yet.

I personally like the jerk strip and currently have a sink tip .. However, I am going to give the full sink a try with the next line.

[UtahFlyGuy]

From my understanding Galloup uses a full type 6 sinking line and uses a 4ft leader. 2ft section of 20lb and 2ft section of 8lb
to tie off on the streamer. He likes to fish in water no less than 18 inches.

[Nich]

From my understanding Galloup uses a full type 6 sinking line and uses a 4ft leader. 2ft section of 20lb and 2ft section of 8lb
to tie off on the streamer. He likes to fish in water no less than 18 inches.

Galloups method is really developed for larger rivers and mostly fishing out of a drift boat. It's hard to rig up the way he does and hit a smaller body of water. You'll just hang up a ton and have hard time on skinnier water that holds fish. I also have his type 7 1/2 line and that thing sinks like an anchor! I'm starting to fish a hybrid style for rivers locally and have been doing more jerk strip retrieves. Here is the rig that I have been fishing as of late on smaller waters like the weeb and the provo.

Type 5 sink tip or type 5 full sink if I don't want to swing or cut through deeper water. With 24''-30'' of 20lb maxima then 12lb 18''-24'' for my leader. A large articulated fly like a circus peanut with a unweighted bugger or sculpin trailed with son 8lb about 24'' behind. It's been pretty good set up for me and if i need to get in tight somewhere I'll just cut off the trailing fly.

[UtahFlyGuy]

Yea Nick, I understand the waters are different. I was in the same line of thinking when it comes to the line
type as well. Are you using Floro for your leader?

[Nich]

Yea Nick, I understand the waters are different. I was in the same line of thinking when it comes to the line
type as well. Are you using Floro for your leader?

I used to but now I'm throwing Maxima after taking Galloups workshop. It's super stiff and abrasion resistant and way cheaper. So far I've been pretty happy with it.

[coreyk]

Nich... Curious which line are you using, what is the sink rate, and about how far below the surface is it hanging (on average)?

I go back and forth on the trailing fly .. I like it, but the trade-off is not being able to really smack the opposite bank hard (tight and close) with a big fly.

[rodrick]

Maxima and get it spooled somewhere for you off the master spools and save some more dinero.

[Nich]

Nich... Curious which line are you using, what is the sink rate, and about how far below the surface is it hanging (on average)?

I go back and forth on the trailing fly .. I like it, but the trade-off is not being able to really smack the opposite bank hard (tight and close) with a big fly.

Shit I sure it's this one http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=&id=0000984312776a&navCount=0&podId=0000984&parentId=&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=IJ&rid=&parentType=&indexId=&cmCat=netcon&cm_ven=netcon&cm_cat=Google&cm_pla=scientific%20angler%20sink%20tip&cm_ite=netcon in a type 4 or 5 it has the sink rates on the link. I've swapped spools and it doesn't have to sticker anymore.

Depth depends on a couple factors: Did I throw a mend and let it sink? Did I start stripping right away? Is my lead fly weighted an/or my trailing fly? How fast is my retrieve? The thing I like about a full sink VS a sink tip is that it doesn't pull the fly towards the surface and out of the strike zone like a sink tip. But they are a pain in the ass to fish with while wading because they will sink and tangle at you feet.

[FlyRx]

I don't know if this is diverting the thread, but what are your preferred methods of fishing these big crazy flys? Gallup recommends the jerk, strip retrieve with unweighted flys with a full sinking line. Others describe cone heads or heavy flys with a swing retrieve focusing on the strips as the fly is directly down stream. I play around with everything and haven't settled on a prefered method yet.

I'm not experienced enough to have a preferred method yet, and there have been some great ideas shared so far. This has been discussed a bit recently maybe this link will help, http://www.utahonthefly.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19302&highlight=streamers

This may have been posted here before but this is another cool link - http://www.drakemag.com/content/view/108/130/ - should be "See the Take" looks to me like they are using a floating line.... probably not the most commonly used method, but sure was working for those guys. Warning - desire to huck the meat will undoubtedly follow after viewing video clip.

[FishOn!]

Does a Double Bunny benefit from a stinger hook? Is it even possible to add one in? It just seems that there is quite a bit of body that hangs off the back of the fly. I am thinking about trying to tie a few up.

[Nich]

Does a Double Bunny benefit from a stinger hook? Is it even possible to add one in? It just seems that there is quite a bit of body that hangs off the back of the fly. I am thinking about trying to tie a few up.

Yep. Take some 10-12lb mono snell hook style a Gamakatsu Octopus. Sweet stinger set up and pretty easy to add. Just remember to Zap A Gap or Cement the mono to the lead hook well. That way the trailing fly wont slip of the first hook shank.

[FishOn!]

Yep. Take some 10-12lb mono snell hook style a Gamakatsu Octopus. Sweet stinger set up and pretty easy to add. Just remember to Zap A Gap or Cement the mono to the lead hook well. That way the trailing fly wont slip of the first hook shank.

Cool, thanks!