Beginner’s Fly Tying: Bead Head Bunny Leech

Our PVFF Beginner’s fly tying classes have been a tremendous success over the past year, despite the handicaps of the COVID pandemic. Almost monthly more and more of our members are joining in and requesting materials in order to tie the ‘fly of the month.’

I pause to reiterate that the focus of our monthly Beginner’s program is to provide knowledge and skills in tying relatively simple fly patterns for fishing inland waters. In doing so, each “pattern of the month” incorporates new techniques and/or new tying materials, to help our club fly tiers better understand artificial fly construction and fundamental tying techniques, and to gain experience in using various artificial materials. Admittedly, some of our tiers look forward to using their new flies on the water, while others merely enjoy this pastime activity and learning new tying skills. Such is the beauty of the ‘art’ of tying artificial flies, which has captured my imagination over the past 50 years.

So the fly pattern chosen for the month of May is the ‘bead head bunny leech,’ also referred to as a ‘rabbit strip leech,’ or several other descriptive terms for the imitation of a fresh water fish food commonly called a leech. Despite the many differences in materials and components of this pattern (as one would find on the internet and fly tying books), the common component in virtually all bunny leech patterns is the use of a thin strip of the hide of a rabbit. This material, which when wet imparts a life-like movement to the fly, such as can be observed in a fresh water leech, which moves about via snake-like undulations of its body. With our progression into warmer weather we will find more opportunities to fish patterns like the ‘bunny leech’ when fishing for trout, bass and even large panfish. Step-by-step instructions are below.

Step-by-Step Instructions for Tying the Rabbit Strip Leech

Introduction– There are a multiplicity of materials commonly used for tying fresh water leech imitations. The cone headed rabbit strip leech is one of my favorites because of the undulating motion which rabbit (or squirrel) fur imparts when the fly is slowly stripped along at the bottom of a freshwater stream, river, pond, or lake. The directions which follow can be used to tie the following two variants of the cone head rabbit strip leech, both of which consist of basically the same materials.

Materials-

• Streamer hook – size 6-10 e.g. Mustad 79580
• Brass cone head – size 3/16-1/4”
• Lead or lead substitute wire – size 2.5 -3.0 mm
• Rabbit (zonker) fur strips 2mm wide (olive, brown, black, purple)
• Rabbit cross cut (XC) fur strips (olive, brown, black, purple)
• Crystal flash (color to match fly body)
• Micro/crystal chenille , mylar, sparkle yarn or other flash material

Tying Steps (for full bodied rabbit fur leech)

• After flattening the hook barb, insert hook through a brass cone head and place in tying vise.
• Starting mid shank wrap lead (or substitute) wire around the hook shank forward to the cone head. Push the wire forward into the cone head. Trim off the trailing end of the lead wire.
• Start thread wraps immediately behind the lead wire to create a thread bump which will hold the lead wraps in place, then make thread wraps over the lead wire to secure it in place. Continue to wrap the thread to the rear stopping at the hook bend. (At this point it is advisable to apply quick set epoxy or head cement over the lead wire to add stability).
• Select a section of zonker strip approximately 2” long, trimming the one end to a small point (the end which the tips of fur fibers are pointing toward). Measure the length of the rear portion of the fur strip to be approximately 1X- 1.5X the length of the hook shank, extending beyond the hook bend.
• Secure the fur strip at this point with several thread wraps, each time pulling the bobbin down toward the tying bench, to secure the rabbit strip tail in place. Trim off the excess fur strip facing forward leaving ~1/4” of hide facing forward. Make additional thread wraps over this blunt end and return the thread wraps to the rear tie in location.
• Select a 2” piece of rabbit cross cut (XC) strip. Then hold the rabbit XC such that the fibers in the strip are pointed toward the rear of the hook. Trim a small point on the near end of the XC strip and secure it in place with several thread wraps at the same location as where the zonker strip was tied in.
• Advance the tying thread forward, stopping immediately behind the cone head.
• Carefully wrap the XC strip around and forward to the cone head, stroking the fibers of the XC strip toward the rear after each wrap. Then secure the forward end of the XC strip immediately against the cone head opening. Make tight thread wraps which should pull the extreme end of the XC strip against and slightly under the cone head.
• Select 3-4 strips of crystal flash and tie in (at the middle of the flash material) against the near side of the fly immediately next to the cone head. Then pull the other half of the crystal flash (which is facing forward) over and to the far side of the cone head. Secure this with several thread wraps and trim the crystal flash ends to approximately the length of the Zonker strip tail.
• Add a drop of head cement immediately behind the cone head.  

Tying steps (for a fur collared rabbit fur leech)

• After flattening the hook barb insert hook through a brass cone head and place in tying vise.
• Starting mid shank wrap lead (or substitute) wire around the hook shank forward to the cone head. Push the wire forward into the cone head. Trim off the trailing end of the lead wire.
• Start thread wraps immediately behind the lead wire to create a thread bump which will hold the lead wraps in place, then make thread wraps over the lead wire to secure it in place. (At this point it is advisable to apply quick set epoxy or head cement over the lead wire to add stability.
• Select a 1 ½” section of flash material (for the abdomen of the fly) and tie it in immediately behind the lead wrap, then advance the thread to the bend of the hook.
• Wrap the flash material rearwards around the hook shank to the location where the thread is hanging and secure it with several thread wraps.
• Select a section of the rabbit zonker strip and measure it to the length from where the lead wrap ends, to a point ~1 ½ x the shank length beyond the hook bend. Part the fur slightly and tie the zonker strip immediately at the hook bend.
• Hold the forward section of the zonker strip up while advancing the thread forward, stopping where the rear portion of the lead wrap is located. Trim this end of the zonker strip to a small point and secure it with several thread wraps. (Consider applying a light coat of quick dry cement to the top of the hook which will help secure the rabbit strip on top of the hook.)
• Once the zonker strip is secured, trim off any extra material and tie in the XC section of rabbit hide strip (using the same method as described in the full-bodied version above).
• Carefully wrap the XC strip around and forward to the cone head, stroking the fibers of the XC strip toward the rear after each wrap. Then secure the forward end of the XC strip immediately against the cone head opening. Make tight thread wraps which should pull the extreme end of the XC strip against the cone head. Trim excess rabbit XC strip and whip finish.
• Add a drop of head cement immediately behind the cone head to secure the rabbit strip in place.

By Don Fine