John Glaspy Flies

             

Green Rotabunny was designed and tied by Contributing Fly Tyer, John Glaspy.  You can see more of his flies for Pacific Salmon at The Flies of John Glaspy.

All of the Rotabunnies use the same general tying steps. Refer to

1. Place a finished propeller hook with the desired color propeller and cone in the vise.

2. Tie in the marabou tail, length a little longer than the overall length of the hook. Because the tails are layered different colors of marabou, I find it easier to wet the marabou before tying each feather in place. Trim the butts where the lead and epoxy begin on the hook shank, to eliminate the bump on the shank of the finished propeller hook made by the lead wire and epoxy. Put several strands of Krystal Flash on each side of the tail and clip to varying lengths, no longer than marabou.

3. Tie on the tip of the appropriate color of UV Polar Chenille (Hareline Dubbin) over the last thread wrap covering the marabou, and wind two turns of this chenille, sweeping it back to lie over the marabou. Tie off and cut the chenille.

4. Keeping the thread on the most posterior thread wrap over the Polar Chenille and marabou, cut a back rabbit strip as long as the hook and marabou tail combined and tie it in place zonker style with five thread wraps over the rear of the hook shank, leaving enough extending over the tail so that the rabbit fur extends to the end of the marabou. Lift the frontmost part of the strip and wrap the thread over the shank in front of it. Place a drop of cement over the thread wraps trying to avoid getting the lacquer on the rabbit and pull the front end of the rabbit strip (which should be long enough to reach the cone later) backward and hook it in the material holder until needed.

5. Tie in the body rabbit strip immediately in front of the back strip tie in point at the rear of the hook, then wind the thread forward to the back of the cone. Palmer the body strip forward covering the shank from the posterior tie-in to on top of the lead wraps and tie off behind the cone. Cover this tie in with thread for one quarter inch or so behind the cone.

6. Wet your fingers then part and separate the body rabbit fur over the top of the fly toward the two sides of the fly. Pull the back rabbit strip, zonker style, forward over the top of the fly over the part you have created and tie it off over the body strip tie in area immediately behind the cone. Cover the quarter inch thread base with thread, half hitch and cover wraps with head cement. The rabbit strips are now secure and nearly indestructible.

7. Put dubbing on the thread, dub an egg over the thread wraps behind the cone, whip finish and cut thread.