Published May 5. 2014 - 9 years ago
Updated or edited Jan 5. 2019

Sea Trout Munker

Inspired by Kim Sorensen's salmon fly the Munker I set out to make a sea trout variant for the salt

Sea Trout Munkers - One lighter and larger, one darker and smaller - both fine goby imitations
Sea Trout Monkers
Martin Joergensen

Kim Sorensen and Frank Thornild's Munker fly has been a great success on Danish salmon rivers and is a fly right after my heart. Not only is it a Muddler, but it's also a a Zonker - hence the name Munker.

The fly is an obvious fly

to adapt for sea trout in the salt with its short and plumb shape, nicely imitating the different species of goby that are high on the menu for sea trout, particularly in the spring where small specimens gather in the shallow water, which warms up quickly.

Tied in gray and brown

shades the Munker looks very much like these small, short and chubby, bottom dwelling fish. The shape and the weight makes the Munker and obvious contender for the role as a goby imitation.

So I tied up some

in natural colors and omitted the Jungle Cock and wound up with some excellent small and medium light flies, well suited to be cast on a 5, 6 or 7 weight and definitely something that I'm going to serve to the silver bars of the Baltic as soon as possible.
Since the fly has worked wonders on salmon in the rivers, I see no reason to doubt that it can also entice a sea run brown.

Warming up - The dark bottom and shallow water warms up in the spring and attracts the prey: shrimp, sand eel, sticklebacks and gobies.
Fishing the shallows - The gobies often seek into the warmer, shallow water - and the sea trout follow
Shallow and warm
Henning Eskol - Martin Joergensen

The materials list

and tying sequence is the same as on Kim's salmon version, but just without the Jungle Cock, which I find a little overkill for saltwater flies, even though I know that some tyers like these exotic (and expensive) feathers on their imitations. I haven't tied any flash into the flies either. Gobies are quite dull and well camouflaged, and don't make much fuss of themselves, so no reason to add further attractions. The rubber legs I like, and they will add fin-like movement to the flies.

Springtime fish - A fish from a sunny day in May, the bottom brimming with tobies
Springtime fish
Martin Joergensen
The Munker
Pattern type: 
Tube fly
Originator: 
Kim Sorensen and Frank Thornild
Materials: 
Tube
Guideline FITS medium
Bead(s)
One or two, aluminum, brass or tungsten to fit snuggly over tube, color to suit fly
Tying thread
Veevus 14/0, color to suit materials
Wing
Short zonker strip, rabbit, opossum or other skins depending on fly size
Flash
Angel Hair or Ice dubbing to, color to suit fly (optional)
Hackle(s)
One light and one dark to suite color of fly
Rubber legs
Round, color to suit fly (optional)
Eyes
Jungle Cock (optional)
Head
Deer hair, color to suit fly
Skill level/difficulty: 
Medium
Instruction: 
  1. Melt a collar on the rear of the plastic tube
  2. Slite one or two beads over the tube and glue them against the collar
  3. Tie in the zonker wing in front of the beads, letting the bead lift it slightly
  4. Trim off remaining skin
  5. Tie in flash
  6. Tie in and wrap one or two soft hackles in front of the wing
  7. Tie in rubber legs over the hackle base, pointing along the tube
  8. Tie in Jungle Cock eyes, one on each side of the fly
  9. Bend back rubber legs and tie down
  10. Trim the tube, leaving room for the muddler head
  11. Burn a collar in the front of the tube
  12. Spin a couple of small bunches of deer hair to form a wide and flat head
  13. Half hitch or whip finish, trim thread and varnish
  14. Trim the head flat and wide

Step 1 - collar, bead

Step 2 - push bead back

Step 3 - start thread

Step 4 - wing

Step 5 - prepare hackle

Step 6 - wrap hackle

Step 7 - prepare second hackle

Step 8 - wrap second hackle

Step 9 - rubber legs

Step 10 - bend back, trim tube

Step 11 - deer hair

Step 12 - spin hair

Step 13 - smaller bunch

Step 14 - spin hair

Step 15 - whip finish

Step 16 - varnish

Step 17 - trim

Step 18 - done

Mounting and fishing the fly

As with other tube flies, you mount the hook after the fly has been tied. Select a piece of of junction tube and a suitable hook - single, double or treble - and pass the tippet through the fly from the front, through the junction tube and then tie it onto the hook using whatever knot you prefer. Trim the tag of the tippet and pull the hook shank into the junction tube and taught against the rear of the fly. You are ready to fish. The gobies are bottom dwelling fish, and this fly will willingly sink to the bottom of shallow water and can be fished slowly over the bottom.

Small Sea Trout Munker - Here the small, dark Sea Trout Munker is \"fake mounted\" with a treble hook. For the hook to be properly mounted you need a tippet going through the fly and the orange junction tube. But this shows the look of the fly when it\'s fishing.
Mounting schematics - The bead or cone rests against the collar on the rear part of the tube. The front collar is made before spinning the deer hair. Mount the hook when the fly is tied, passing the tippet through the tube and a piece of soft junction tube and tying it onto the hook, pulling it taught into the junction tube and up against the fly.
Mounting the hook
Martin Joergensen
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