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The Fair Fly

This fly is a larger and more imitative variation of the Squirrel Zonker. The addition of the eyes and the heavy hair hackle makes the fly more fishlike and the Fair Fly is a good imitation of a sculpin.

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This fly is a larger and more imitative variation of the Squirrel Zonker. The addition of the eyes and the heavy hair hackle makes the fly more fishlike and the Fair Fly is a good imitation of a sculpin. The fly is tied with fur from nutria, which has a dense curly underfur and shiny, spiky guard hairs. the fur could easily be 'substituted' with mink. With ladies furs it actually works the other way round.

HookLong shank down eye streamer size 4-2
ThreadGrey or tan
TailTip of zonker strip
BodySilver tinsel
RibOval silver tinsel
WingZonker strip cut from nutria (or mink)
HackleHair hackle from nutria
Eyesbead chain eyes
HeadHeavy dubbing over and in front of eyes

  1. Tie the body and zonker wing like mentioned under the Squirrel Zonker
  2. Leave at least two eye widths for the head.
  3. Make a dubbing loop and put aside.
  4. Tie in the eyes one eye width behind hook eye.
  5. Catch a tuft of nutria underfur and guard hair in the dubbing loop, spin and cover space behind the eyes with the hackle.
  6. Dub the thread with nutria and cover the base of the eyes with dubbing.
  7. Finish the fly and stroke hairs over eyes with velcro to mix with the hackle.The nutria can easily be substituted with mink. Squirrel will do fine for smaller flies and rabbit for larger ones.

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