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Dec 2002
by Rich Johnson
Fly of the Month: Sockeye Magic
Notes: Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. The FOM this month is my holiday gift to you.
This fly is one of my "secret flies" and has been an evolution of my fishing for sockeye's on the Russian and Kenai Rivers. Several years ago my partner and I noticed that fresh sockeye would occasionally take a ginger bunny fly we were fishing as a flesh pattern. And that most of the strikes occurred at the end of the drift. We started targeting bright sockeyes and discovered we were being more successful than we had been with any pattern we had been using previously. Later, during the silver salmon run I gave it a try and had limited success, they we very tolerant of the pattern on a dead-drift but didn't pick it up as well as the sockeyes. I added a baby pink soft hackle collar on the premise that this was a color that silvers had a taste for. It improved the take rate on silvers. I also changed the hook style from a #6 3XL streamer hook to a #4 standard salmon iron as a silver would straighten out the streamer hook. A few years later, while fishing the early run of sockeyes I ran out of my standard ginger flies but still had a few of the pink hackled one I used for silvers the previous fall. The sockeyes went nuts. My hook up rate doubled, at least. The last change was to replace the collared hackle with bunny. Only thick soft webby hackle worked well as a collar and it's not real common. So I started using bunny and it works as good, if not better, than the hackle. Although this is one of my "secret flies" I've been sharing it locally for a number of years and thought that this December I would publicize it worldwide. See some fishing notes that follow the instructions.
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Hook: UTE Salmon (#6 for sockeyes; #4 for silvers)
Thread: Danville Plus, white
Weight: .030 lead
Tail: Bunny strip, extension of the body
Body: Bunny strip, Ginger (natural)
Hackle: Bunny strip, Hot pink
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1)Lead the hook shank from above the point to the loop backed wire. Bind down the lead with thread, leaving the thread at the rear of the shank. |
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2) Attach a ginger bunny strip on top of the shank just above the hook point. Separate the hair leaving about a hook gape length of hide for the tail. (The hair will almost double the tail length.
(Notes: I prefer, and think the fly works better, if you use the darker ginger hair from the top of the hide. The hair starts to turn pale ginger to cream as it approaches the belly and although that color works well for flesh flies it doesn't seem to work as well for this pattern. As for the tail, I've showed you my preference in length. My fishing/tying partner Lance Hankins always tied his with a longer tail and did every bit as well as I did on any given day. Just goes to show you!) |
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3) Wrap the bunny strip forward and tie off just as it comes off the lead wraps. Try to tie off on the bottom of the shank. Trim the excess. |
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4) Tie in, hide up, the pink bunny strip. Tie it in on the opposite side of the tie off spot of the ginger strip. |
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5) Make one to one and one-half wraps of pink bunny. Tie off, trim and smooth the hairs back.
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6) Bind down the bunny strip with a tapered head. Whip finish and trim your thread. The finished fly should have a veil of hot pink fur that flows over the ginger body.
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7) Fishing notes: Present this fly dead drift directly (head on) to the fish. I usually use a floating line and a 9' leader with just enough spit shot 20-24" up on the leader to present the fly an inch or two off the bottom. Presentation needs to be to a holding fish. In my opinion, sockeye don't take flies when they are moving. Don't chase fish!, find a rock or spot where they are stopping to rest and present flies to the fish that come to you. Some fish, in my opinion, will take a fly. Some won't. If you're lucky you'll get to see the suck in the fly (they very rarely move for a fly). Most of the time the line becomes tight. It's a lot like nymph fishing. I've been told that this pattern doesn't work as well in bright sunlight as other smaller patterns. That may be the case; I often fish in low light as I feel that first thing in the morning is the best time for sockeyes. But, put a few of these into you box and give them a try next time you're fishing during the midnight sun. |