Equipment Outfitters

Maintaining control

Boards also vary in rocker (the amount the bottom curves from the tip to tail of the board). Rocker placement varies from board to board, and on each board. Boards with more rocker in the tail will be slower but more maneuverable, while boards with less tail rocker will plane quicker and go faster. Each board designer places rocker in different places determined by the performance desired, and each boardsailor prefers a different feel and shape.

Early “short” board designs looked more like surfboards than today’s top shapes. Board buoyancy is measured by volume, so less volume means less floatation. Designers shift the volume around in their boards, placing more or less in the tip or tail dramatically effects performance. Short boards started out with massive amounts of volume in the tail. One early design by top boardsailor Ken Winner actually had a hump though the middle of the rear deck of the board, and a pointy front. Designers gradually reduced the volume in the back of the boards, moving it forward under the mast base. Read the rest of this entry »

The Zonker is a time-consuming and elaborate pattern to tie and requires a fair deal of practice before its proportions are correctly mastered. The underbody, which gives it its underslung shape, is normally formed with aluminium or lead tape, which is bent around the hook shank and then cut to shape. If a translucent mylar is used as an overbody, I like to colour the underbody with floss or waterproof marking pens. When tying several Zonkers I have found that it is most time-efficient to shape and colour the underbody tape before starting. Because of its mylar body construction, the fly is quickly shredded by the trout’s teeth, so I now coat all my Zonker bodies in epoxy.

As small baitfish will often be found along the shallows of our stillwaters, it is here that the fly-fisher should concentrate his efforts. My technique is to wait for a disturbance to erupt and then cast the Zonker as quickly as possible into the area of feeding activity. This requires a powerful, fastactioned rod. My previous favourite was a nine-foot rod designed for a seven-weight line; however, with the graphite fly-rods on the market today, a five-weight outfit is more than capable of handling these patterns. A stiff, fastactioned rod is required to cast the Zonker, because once its rabbit strip ‘wing’ has soaked up water it is difficult to cast the pattern efficiently with a light-line rod. Read the rest of this entry »