Tying the Rabbit Thing - a.k.a the Barra Thing

Rabbit Thing for the fresh

              (and Barra anywhere for that matter)

Once bought a fly tying kit from FlyWorld for this fly - been using it every since

mine a little different to the version they supplied

but it is my go to fly in the fresh water of Corroboree Billabong which is about an hour from my front door (soon to be 20minutes once I move to my rural block next year!)

One of the easiest flies to tie, not many materials but so vibrant in colour combos and alive with movement through the water - even stationary, so you can fish it really, really slow

here we go - lets tie some!

Tie in eyes of desired weight and size- I tie them at a point that is 1/4 of hook shank back from hook eye

Tie in Weed-guard - I use a 20lb plactic coated wire for this but any type of weed guard will do

Tie in some flash - here I am using some red and black flash

Tie in a strip zonker at  the hook bend             (I use 'Texas cut' zonker strips here a slightly wider zonker but sadly thicker means less movement and waggle of tail - its all a playoff depending on what your after)

 

Palmer in some contrast zonker, some would use crosscut fur but I feel zonker flares more when wrapped in this manner.

I sometimes add another collar same colour as tail upfront. 

That's it,     too easy!

Tie it some friends and go fishing.Works well in pink/white, yellow/chartreuse and other combinations. I usually have a very full box of these when saratoga or barra are potential targets, jacks like them too!

On a comp pre-fish Tim Davis got a 72cm on a dark combination fly while I got my few fish on one with a white tail with a red collar. 

So colour we thought was not critical. However, we felt the key of any fly in use is profile, movement (rabbit fur comes alive in the water!) and placement

Critically though - Got to get it close to structure if not in it - hence the heavy  Weed-guard. Bend it into place, just before you fish with it to help storage until use