Zonker flies has been around for a very long time and has been used a lot in fishing for different variations of trout. If you back up a few years, normally when someone said “Zonker” our minds automatically went to rabbit Zonker strips. Rabbit is awesome for those flies that needs more volume and a lot of movement due to the soft fibers of rabbit pelt. But today we have a huge variety of pelts that we cut Zonker strips from and one that has become extremely popular over the last 5-6 years is Opossum! This material has a fantastic shimmer and is very easy to cut and tie with. There is a huge variety of colors and sizes and fits for both trout and salmon flies. The best thing about it is the shimmer, fibers and thin skin. These attributes makes it perfect for salmon Zonker flies and I have personally come to like these flies very much, especially when I make medium to larger flies. There is a lot of brands out there but FutureFly from Denmark is one of the first ones and also the best one! Brian Størup has done a great job with FutureFly and has created a lot of cool stuff for fly tying.
There is a lot of ways to use this material and you can actually use it as “normal hair” as well, but not as good as when it is cut down to strips. For me this kind of material and fly tying is very appealing due to the fact you can create great looking flies in no time! I hope you find this episode interesting and that you feel motivated to try tying some salmon flies with Opossum!
Material for 10 Opossum Zonker flies HERE!
A nice salmon from Orkla, and Arctic Char from Greenland, caught on a Opossum zonker
