Bodkin / Patterns

Fish Skull Zonker

Streamer · Trout · Smallmouth Bass · Largemouth Bass · Pike · Intermediate · 1 version

Reference Recipe

  • Hook 4XL-6XL streamer hook, 2-6
  • Thread White or gray 6/0 (140 denier)

Materials

  • Head Fish-Skull, baitfish/silver (sized to hook)
  • Body Pearl mylar tubing or braid (1 length)
  • Wing/back Rabbit Zonker strip (natural, olive, white, or black) (1 strip)
  • Throat Red Krystal Flash (few strands)
  • Adhesive Super glue (1 drop)

How to tie it

  1. Mount the streamer hook and lay a thread base the length of the shank.
  2. Slide pearl mylar tubing over the shank and bind it down at the bend and again behind the eye so the whole body flashes.
  3. Tie in a rabbit Zonker strip at the bend, hide side down, so a tail of one shank length trails past the bend.
  4. Stretch the strip forward along the top, part the fur at the 90% mark, and bind it flat there.
  5. Add a few strands of red flash underneath as a gill throat.
  6. Build a small thread dam behind the eye and whip finish, then slide the Fish-Skull over the eye and snug it back against the body and lock it with a drop of super glue.
  7. Strip-and-pause it on a sink-tip along drop-offs and undercut banks for trout, bass, and pike. The weighted head gives it a jigging dive.

Tying videos

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