The Bunny Stone grew from my desire to have an effective early season steelhead pattern to be fished deep in the typical fall haunts of heavy runs and heads of pools. I wanted a pattern with contrast, flash, and action but with a familiar profile. The pattern needed to be quick, easy and cheap to tie.

It is merely an obtrusive attractor pattern intended to find aggressive fish and works best in areas of heavy flow and turbulence, it was never intended to be "pretty" or "clean." It is ideal for the pocket-punching indicator fisherman but will also pull double duty for those preferring the west coast style of swinging nymphs.

MATERIAL LIST

Hook: Mustad R74 #10-#4

Thread: Black

Weight: Tungsten Bead and Lead wire

Tail: Black Marabou tips

Abdomen: Black Marabou

Wing case: FlashBack

Rib: Brown Ultra Wire

Legs: Black Rubber Hackle

Thorax: Black rabbit strip; trimmed

Flatten Barb, slide on bead, and mount the hook in your vise.

Add lead wire to the front 1/2 or so of hook shank. Leave room behind the bead to finish the fly.

Note: Lead wire should match the hook wire diameter.

Wiggle each tag end to break the lead at the hook.

Start thread, locking in the lead and building a taper of each shoulder. End above the barb.

Select an even-tipped black blood marabou feather.

Gather the fibers into a bunch, keeping the tips even.

Measure the tips to equal 1/2 the hook length.

Tie the tips in at the rear to form the tail.

Advance thread to the thorax area.

Select your favorite flashback material and secure it on top of the hook, and bind it to the tail. Then come forward a good bit.

Secure your ribbing wire to the far side of the hook; bind it back to the tail and then advance your thread to the 1/2 point of the hook.

Twist the remaining marabou feather into a rope and wrap it forward to form the abdomen. Make the last wrap in front of the thread, pull it back slightly and make a single turn of thread to secure it.

Clip excess.

Pull the flash material forward and secure with 3 turns of thread.

Counter-rib with the wire, last wrap in front of the thread, pull back and secure with one turn of thread.

Pull back the excess flash and bind it down securely to the rear.

Select a black rabbit (or Pine Squirrel) zonker strip.

Bind it to the near side with the hide facing you.

Select two strands of rubber hackle. Here, I am using the kind with the strands attached to each other.

Start by securing the strands to the near side of the hook, just ahead of the bunny strip.

Fold them over the top and secure to the far side.

Trim long for now.

Tightly wrap the bunny forward, hide side down. Pull the fur to the rear with each wrap.

Secure at the bead and clip the excess.

Repeat as before with the rubber hackle.

Divide the top of the thorax to lay a space for the wing case.

Fold the wing case forward and secure just behind the legs.

Trim excess.

Rotate hook and divide the bottom of the thorax.

Trim the bunny fur, then trim the legs to a pleasing width and length.

Separate the rubber hackle strands and your fly is finished!

Certainly not the prettiest, but it is effective!