To my best knowledge, this is the lake trout spawning ritual...From late summer to December, lake trout spawn in shallow, gravel-bottomed water. There is no nest, but males clear the spawning ground of debris. The eggs are laid on the gravel and settle among the stones; they remain there for the winter and hatch in early spring. I have always cought them in late fall on the fly and early spring when pike are typically in about 5-10 feet of water.
As for the bunny leech or as we call it in the pike world the "bunny fly"...its about as easy to tie if not easier then a bugger.
Here's how I do them.
1. Wrap thread back to bend and tie on a 4-6 inch magnum rabbit strip. (I typically use hooks from 1/0-4/0)
2. This is optional, but I like to top the rabit strip with either silver or rainbow colored tinsil...sometime red deepending on water clarity.
3. Wrap the entire hook length with lead wire (the bunny fly is highly bouyant and when stripped fast barely gets under the water's film)
4. Then I tie on another rabbit strip and palmer it forward to the hook eye (some people use cross cut rab/strips but I prefer the bushier mag cuts)
5. Once you have the palmered strip secured at the base of the hook eye, there are several options for a head. Some use dumbell eyes, some use bead chain, some build a head with thread and then epoxy coat it with prismatic eyes and some dont even bother with a head and just whip finish them. I really like the bead-chaine eyes...but its all personal preferance.
Note: use 3/0 heavy thread. Aslo, my lakers were cought on decievers..but I would speculate a bunny fly would be just as succesful. I prefer casting a lighter deciever as opposed to a 5 ounce bunny fly when wet!
