Martyn White | Thursday, 9 October 2025
It seems like it would make sense to follow on from last week’s floating fry with a look at some subsurface options for targeting fry feeders. Perhaps not as visually exciting as topwater, but still a very good option.
There’s no need for a lot of patterns here. Variants of one will probably keep you in fish most of the time for most species. It’s hard to beat a zonker, whether its mink rabbit, squirrel or something else. Maybe colour is more important for these than topwater, but I doubt it really. Shape and size are the most important, although I wouldn’t say no to carrying a light one and a dark one-maybe a white or grey and a natural brown mink. Carry a couple of sizes and don’t be afraid to set about your fly with some scissors if it’s a bit long or a bit chunky. Eyes might matter, they might not. Depending on the target species my opinion probably changes, but I’m noncommittal. As with most retrieval flies to be used in stillwater, putting booby eyes on is probably the best thing you can do to a minkie. Not only does it provide action and water push it also makes the fly very versatile in that it can be fished from the surface to the lake bed-even in one cast. Stick one on a fastish sinker, say a type 4 or faster with a long leader and you can wake and pop it at the surface before rattling it back, you can stop and let it sink to explore the layers- the sinking line keeps the fly moving and the downward movement is pretty good at mimicking a little perch or something diving for cover. A slower line might be the answer if you want to keep the fly higher and more horizontal.
Here's a minkie pattern I like;
Hook: B175/FM comp heavyweight size 6-10 or a B800/TMC 5263. Or any kind of equivalent you prefer
Thread: White
Body: Pearl fritz or flash dubbing
Rib: oval silver or mono
Wing/tail: Brown, grey or white mink zonker
Collar: Malard flank
Head: Globrite no.4
JC or tape eyes are optional, or add 5-8mm foam jobs.
I rarely weight minkies, preferring line choice to set the depth most of the time. A light lively fly and a heavy line seems more appealing. If you want weight, make it do something and put it at the head of the fly to get a bit of a wiggle. If that’s what I’m going for I think a bit of marabou is better than hide, so then it’s time for a humongous. White seems to make most sense but pretty much every species I’ve thrown a shuggy has eaten black just as well. I’ve a pall who likes an olive and gold one too, I suppose it’s a bit like a perch or something. The humongous loves booby eyes as much or more than a zonker, but I don’t think there’s any call for both in the box, unless you want them of course.
Here's the huey, essentially a modified bugger.
Hook B175 or FM comp heavyweight size 8-10
Thread: Black or white
Tail: Marabou, black white or olive with plenty of gold or silver flash
Body: Silver or gold chenille- Dave Downie’s Humongous chenille is the best.
Rib: Silver wire
Body hackle: A low grade, long barbed cock hackle -one of those badger/grizzly Indian necks from a bargain bucket it what you want really.
Eyes: Bead chain or foam- I like to match the foam to the colour of the marabou.