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The Bunny SplitTwo Tails Are Better Than OneBy Mark Dysinger
Scott Sanchez developed a pattern called the Double Bunny that uses two rabbit strips for a tail. These strips are glued together by their hides, and I find that this unnecessarily impairs the mobility of the material in the water. In such a case, the only real movement is from the very tips of the strips and the individual hairs along their length. The Bunny split utilizes two magnum zonker strips for the tail, with flash material sandwiched between the two. The strips are not glued together, and thus are able to swing and wiggle independently of each other in the water. A wire loop guard helps to prevent tangling.
The collar is composed of layers of marabou. Some pike patterns use cross-cut rabbit strips for a collar (i.e., Reynold's Pike Fly), but I prefer the fluid movement of marabou. It's also easier to alternate or blend colors with marabou than it is with cross-cut rabbit. As a bonus, the marabou does a nice job of hiding the wire loop guard. The collar is the most fragile component of the fly. The magnum zonker strips and epoxied head are quite rugged.
I make this fly with bright color combinations, mixing and matching the top and bottom tail components and sometimes alternating the marabou layer colors for the collar. Colors such as white, yellow, and chartreuse are good starting points, and accents of red are always a nice touch. Although muted colors such as olive, brown, and black have their place, I have yet to use them very much with this pattern simply because the brighter colors have been so effective.
There are two approaches to retrieving this fly, and I have found success with both depending upon conditions. When the fish are fairly active, a single hand strip retrieve is best. Let the activity level of the fish dictate how long and fast each strip should be, and how long you should pause between strips to let the fly sink a bit. When the fish are less active or just plain neutral, a slow two handed retrieve can trigger strikes by steadily pulling the fly through the water just fast enough to make the rabbit hairs and strips shimmy. Although I tie this fly with pike in mind, I have also caught several nice largemouth and smallmouth bass while fishing it. I have plans this year to test it in the salt, where I believe the bluefish and perhaps even striped bass will give chase.
Materials
Tying instructions
Pike fishing on Global FlyFisherBunny Split - rabbit tail pike fly <<< You are hereTooth and Nail - flies for pike The Splayed-A-Live Pike Fly - a tarpon fly goes pikey A one foot fly amidst the lily pads - Ad Swier's pike story Salty pike in Sweden - pike in the salt Pike bite tippets - stuff to widthstand toothy beasts Tandem fly for pike - a beautiful Dutch fly The Tinsel Fly - a universal killer Valeur's Pike Streamer - flash galore Monster Muddler - Deerharius gigantus Pike fishing on the webPike Hunters - a Swedish/Danish group of fly fishers specializing in pike fishing in the ocean.Ad Swier - Dutch pike fisher and artist. Partridge pike hooks - Ad Swier's and the John Holden hook Hardy Pike Teaser - Hardy's Ad Swier designed special rod for pike fishing. Unfortunately Hardy removed their web page on the rod.
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