As the name suggests, the Zuddler is a cross between the Muddler Minnow and the Zonker, both very entrenched streamers in their own right. I first learned of this pattern via a client who referred me to this article at GlobalFlyFisher.com.

Since that introduction, this pattern has been on my exploratory list. Thus far it has proven its success with smallmouth bass, resident brown trout, and skinny water steelhead-especially spring males.

While certainly not an end-all pattern, the zuddler is a quick tie that boasts lots of inherent action between the rabbit strip tail and long deer hair collar. It's a fantastic searching pattern when fished quickly on a sinking line with fast, long strips or drifted to sighted aggressive male steelhead around spawning gravel.

Color combinations are endless, as are body materials. You can tie sweet little zuddlers using small pine squirrel zonker strips and coastal deer hair with a bead head to tempt small wild trout or panfish.

I have tweaked the recipe a bit to suit my tastes, feel free to do likewise! I prefer SE streamer hooks so I opt for the Mustad 9674. I also tend to tie my deer hair collars a bit shorter, denser, and with more even tips because I'll use this pattern in skinnier water or with a faster retrieve and depend on the vibrations from the hair collar to help attract fish. Remember, fish in shallow water cannot see as far as fish in deeper water.

MATERIALS

Hook: Mustad 79580, 9674 (shown), R74 or similar Streamer hook.

Head: Gold Cone Head to Suit Hook Size

Weight: Lead Wire

Thread: Flat "A" Nylon

Body: Gold Braid

Tail/Wing: Tan Barred Zonker Strip

Flash: Gold Krystal Flash (2 or 3 per side)

Hackle/Collar: Spun Natural Deer Hair

Nose: Hot Red Tying Thread

Slide a cone onto your debarbed hook and place it well inside the vise jaws, using a hook pocket if available.

Wrap medium lead wire around the middle 1/3 of the hook shank.

Slide the wire up into the cone cavity to center the cone and hold it in place.

Cover the lead with a neutral colored Flat Nylon thread and build a pleasing taper. Lay a base to the rear ending just in front of, and above, the hook point.

Advance the thread to the rear edge of the cone.

Catch-in a section of gold diamond braid right behind the cone.

Bind it to the rear of the body and bring your thread back to the cone.

Wrap a tight body with the braid.

Once you reach your thread, make the final wrap over the hook and pass it in front of the thread...

...come underneath and back up the near side, angling the braid slightly to the rear...

...make 2 tight wraps of thread in front of the braid and you'll lock it in place.

Clip the excess.

Secure a piece of tan barred zonker strip on top of the hook just behind the cone using 3 tight wraps of thread. Be sure that the fur is laying to the rear.

Clip the rear end of the zonker strip by clipping just the hide from beneath a hook gap distance beyond the bend of the hook. This will leave the longer fur on top uncut for added length but without the tendency to foul on the hook.

Select 2 or 3 long strands of gold Krystal Flash.

At the mid point of the bundle of 2 or 3 strands, fold them around the tying thread...

...then slide them up to the hook shank.

Make one wrap of thread to lock them down and proceed to encourage one half of the KF strands to the opposite side of the hook.

Pull back the strands on both sides of the hook....

...and bind them down with a few tight thread wraps.

Clip the strands to be just a tad longer than the tail.

Select a patch of mature adult, winter killed white-tailed deer hide from the back or flank of the animal. You want long hairs with nicely marked tips.

Snip off a healthy dollop of hair close to the hide.

Using a small comb, or your scissors tips, remove the underfur and short guards from the bundle.

Clip off the last inch or so of the butt ends (provide the hair length is sufficient to form the fly) and place the bundle, tips first, in your hair stacker.

Tap the stacker a few times to roughly even the tips of the hairs and remove from the stacker with the tips facing the rear of the hook.

Measure the tips to be about equal to the length of the hook when measured from just behind the cone.

Transfer hands and place the measured point at the rear edge of the cone.

Clip the butts flush with the front of the hook eye.

Make one loose wrap of thread around the hair and hook. DO NOT apply pressure or let go of the hair.

As you begin your second wrap, apply some gradual pressure and feel the thread catch the hair and begin to pull it around the hook as you watch the hair compress and flare. DO NOT let the hair go.

As you begin your third, and tightest, wrap, let go of the hair and allow the thread to spin it around the hook shank until the thread bites and the hair stops spinning. If you unknowingly break your thread, the hair will not stop spinning, in that case remove the hair and secure the thread and start over with a new bundle of hair.

Once the thread locks into place, make a few tight wraps forward through the hair until you reach the edge of the cone.

Whip-finish and cut the heavy thread.

Attach the hot red tying thread ahead of the cone.

Force the cone back a bit, compressing the hair collar and exposing some more of the hook shank between the eye and cone.

Build a nose with so that it appears as an extension of the cone. Whip, snip and cement.

A finished Zuddler!