Will be in Alaska next week… made a bunch of flies but was told to whip up some Dolly Llamas… ordered gigantic cone heads and some new magnum rabbit…
Tying them up as YouTube vids show… and yet, when I finish, the rear hook is twisting 180 degrees even though I have taken great care to tie it in right.
I doubt it matters, but can’t figure out where my issue is. I think it has to do with palmering in the rabbit on the front hook.
Never heard of it. Just saw video gives off meat whistle vibes. Is your problem consistent? Maybe a quarter turn on the articulation step would help. Not sure why he used a piece of hardware in the vid could just as easily create a loop in the wire. I would be worried about stripping the lead hook without some kind of mechanical retention. Interesting fly…
I honestly had never heard of it either @rovster - but after looking it up and researching, apparently it is a salmon killer.
I am such a rookie salmon fisher, I have mo idea what type of salmon whacks it.
I am using 30 pound Dacron as the dropper- I don’t think I would get slippage. But when I tie it in and Palmer the rabbit, everything is still in good shape. When I finish tying in the bottom rabbit zonker, suddenly, everything has rotated 180 degrees. I have done two now, and it happened on both.
Edit to add- this is gon a be fun tossing on an 8 wt! The 10 wt is looking more appealing.
When I guided up there I was a big fan of dolly’s tied in flesh colors. Tan/Peach, white/tan, white/pink, etc. I didn’t tie mine with giant cones but maybe you need it with where you are going. One thing I will say is that I strongly advise you to consider using standard width zonkers or even the micro ones. I will argue that not only are they substantially easier to cast but they swim better as well.
I wouldn’t worry about the hook rotating, I ended up never lashing to the hook as it adds a few minutes to tie a fly that would get destroyed rather quickly anyway. I left the trailer hanging or looped it in with nylon coated wire.
Good luck, have fun and really take in what a special place you’re in!
Okay just saw your other post, disregard the colorways I spoke of if you’re using them for salmon. This time of year you should be targeting silver salmon aka coho’s. Tie them in the brightest pinks you can find. You can accent with white or purple. For silvers I preferred just a simple fly as we we fished them around a lot of structure.
Thanks for that info @Toofarsouth
I have a lot of smaller zonker, and cones, so will whip up some smaller ones.
The 7/16 size cones look like offshore trolling heads!
@JaredD where in Alaska are you headed?
Anchorage is fly in/out.
Doing a drive to Denali, then Homer, and finally Seward.
I am driving, so any good looking streams/ rivers/ lakes will get a scouting.
Stop by mossy’s in anchorage, they will set you straight on where to go on the road system
Looks like it’s a Meat Whistle with an extra articulated hook to make it longer. You could just use the Meat Whistle pattern and apply the olive and white, without the articulated portion, probably work just as good.
I guided in Alaska for 4 years, the dolly lama works great. Piece of advice, use crystal flash instead of the wide flash it calls for, it catches less wind.
@Toofarsouth I will put Mossy’s on the list. I need bear spray as soon as I hit the ground and will buy a bunch of flies that I didn’t tie… and probably the obligatory baseball cap.
@Loogie It is very similar to the meatwhistle in some ways- but the articulation is supposed to be the magic.
@Lawndart Great tip. I appreciate it. I really want to stay w a 5 wt, 6 wt, and 8 wt… and leave 10 wt at home. So, being able to move it on an 8 wt helps- so the more castability- the better.
It has been suggested to leave the 5 wt and bring the 10 wt which is probably sage advice.
Use the 6 for dollys and trout, use the 8 for silvers and chum.