Matuka Pattern

You guys gonna get sick of my silver/gray/white/olive stuff, but here goes.... :D

Gave a shot a making some rabbit matukas and also tried to convert the pattern over to jigs. Found these pics and really liked the looks of them - Tip Dyed Rabbit Strips - The black/silver and black/orange ones really caught my eye. ;) Anyway, here's the jigs I came up with... 2nd one i should have made the tail off the orange body a bit longer. :(

http://www.rogerslake.org/images/101_0936_e.jpg
http://www.rogerslake.org/images/101_0938_e.jpg

and here's the flies I made, did these a little different from their receipe just so I could (hope to) keep the hook point up to avoid snags. I have a feeling these will slam some smallies and hopefully get me some crappie as well.

http://www.rogerslake.org/images/101_0931_e.jpg
http://www.rogerslake.org/images/101_0932_e.jpg


P.S. Pup - I made up a light box like in the link you gave, the colors of the top 3 came out awsome! Thanks for that link!!!! :) Still had trouble with the white fly, it does have pearl cactus chenille on the belly and you can see no pearl at all. If you notice, that pic would not even keep the background color right... must have taken it 15 times and this was the best I got.

That first jig is fantastic man! And how long did we spend tying these???? Do you sell those jigs!;)

Actually, time involved is not too bad. Once you get a routine with the rabbit strip on top, the rest is pretty much a simple jig. It still drives me nuts how sloppy the hackle collar looks, but i know the fishes sometimes like them.

I'll make you some for free.... but shipping/handling to Louisiana will be $39.95 for a set of 5. :D I do give quantity breaks. ;) :p

AF,

Beautiful ties. Really nice work and great photos. :cool:

BTW, I think that Len provided the link for the light box. Gotta build myself another one. Thanks Len!

This is somewhat OT, but I'm really looking forward to the smallie jig swap. :)

all four look the bomb buddy":D:D:D"u go boy"

Thanks guys!

And thanks Len! I guess I'm as good at remembering names as I am faces. :o I blame it on too many random thoughts in my poor simple brain.... that or the 90's.

Looking good! I play around with rabbit hair quite a bit as well but to make more than a few at a time is a pain it really slows me down as compared to say marabou. Are you punching the leather to get it around the hook or just tying it in on the shank and cutting it short before you get to the bend of the shank?

Attica

The jigs look great!!!! even with tying them hook up you're probably gonna snag some, but if you use a good twitch, twitch twitch it should help you stay out of the snags.

Are you using wet or dry hackle for the collar??? One looks dry one wet. It looks really good but If you're still having problems with it try tying it in by the tip and wrapping it that way, and then you dont' have so much stem in your way.

Fatman

Fatman - Yeah, the first pic was with dry hackle... I tied it in close to the head then tried to over wrap it back but it seemed to flair instead of laying back. :o

Jubs - Started to reply earlier, but felt like I was writing a book, so figured it would be easier to explain with pics so just did the strip on a blank jig to show ya. These were done pretty much the same way i lay a piece of chenille from back to front for a back color. If you cut the hide to a point then snip just a little hair (like the 1st pic here) works pretty slick.

http://www.rogerslake.org/images/101_0968_e.jpg

Just put a yarn base down so the hide lays on top instead of the sides wrapping around.

http://www.rogerslake.org/images/101_0961_e.jpg

Lay the hide on top and lock it in place.

http://www.rogerslake.org/images/101_0965_e.jpg

Leave the strip back till your done with the body, then lay it to the front, tie it down and trim it off and finish. :)

http://www.rogerslake.org/images/101_0966_e.jpg

Right on, that way is a lot easier than how I have been doing it! Will make it a lot easier to keep the hair in out of your way as well if you are completing more steps. Thanks for sharing.

One thing I have started doing for cutting rabbit strips is using small side cutters/wire cutters to clip off pieces. It saves your scissors and makes a lot less mess since it doesn't tend to cut the really fine hairs as much as scissors do and you get a much cleaner cut with less "fluff" flying everywhere. When I strip off the tip of the strip I just use scissors to get down to the skin as well.