redfish flies

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of fishing with a buddy of mine from South Arkansas and his little “leech-looking” fly outfitted my tried and true gold spoon fly something like 4 to one. That got me thinking about tying a better fly. I came up with something that I posted on my last blog entry that worked like a charm until a redfish broke me off. I also noted that the redfish had inhaled that fly nearly all the way down to its stomach. Could it be that the gold spoon fly is just something they instinctively eat because they are mad at it…kind of how I think a bass crashes a spinner bait? Could it also be that the fish really thought that purple fly actually looked like a live baitfish? I’m hoping so. Here’s how I came up with the fly.

First, let me start by saying this fly is probably not a Musicdoc original but it’s probably a variation of some other fly that has been tied before. When I asked my buddy what his fly was tied with he said rabbit…ding, ding, ding! We have a winner! For years now, I’ve tied my bass streamers with white rabbit zonkers because I feel the rabbit just has so much more action and wiggle in the water. I tried to tie this fly to look like a small cacahoe minnow or a finger mullet.

I start off with a size 2 salt water hook. I used a hot pink thread because I want to had a nice head and a “hot spot.” Tie on a small dumbbell eye and then tie in about a 2-and-a-half inch purple magnum rabbit zonker strip.

I experimented with inverting the strip (because the fly will ride hook up) but personally, I don’t think the redfish mind at all. After that, it’s time to add some flash. I used black crystal flash for this.

Again, I was trying to imitate flashy fish scales. Then, to add a little bulk, I added some black crystal chenille (might be cactus chenille?).

It’s black but it also has some green and gold flash as well. Then, I added some green ice dubbing material that will flash iridescent under the purple collar. I used this material that I originally bought to blend my own dubbing material.