Menhaden
peanut bunker
sand lance
Menhaden
(Brevootia tyrannus)

Lil' Bunky
2-6 inches

HOOK Eagle Claw 254 #2-3/0
THREAD White
TAIL Equal amounts (sparse) of chartreuse and light blue bucktail, blended, under 2 pieces of copper flash
BODY Charteuse body braid
COLLAR White bucktail on bottom and sides, flared
THROAT White marabou
WING White bucktail under one piece each of gold and silver flash under pink and light gray bucktail blended
TOPPING Peacock herl
EYES Jungle cock

Bunky
(6-9 inches)

menhaden

HOOK Eagle Claw 254 #2-3/0
THREAD White
TAIL Equal amounts (sparse) of chartreuse and light blue bucktail, blended, under 2 pieces of black flash, under one white saddle (tied in flat, curve side down),under two pieces of copper flash, under one white saddle (tied in flat, curve side down)
COLLAR 1 White bucktail surrounding the shank, flared by a bump tied on the shank (over the hook point) by 12 wraps of thread
BODY Copper body braid
COLLAR 2 White bucktail on bottom and sides, flared; white bucktail on top, flared by a bump created by several wraps of body braid 1/4” before hook eye
WING Pink bucktail under one long medium wide ginger saddle
THROAT Ginger marabou
EYES Jungle cock
Notes
Time of Appearance: late spring through November.

Life History: During the late spring and summer the prejuvenile and juvenile live in the upper brackish estuary and the young live in the lower estuary. Throughout the summer the prejuvenile (½-¾-in.) will move out into the bay where stripers will go on feeding binges and want nothing else. In the fall (September) the menhaden begin to congregate into enormous schools and slowly make their way out to the shore to migrate south.  The main sizes in these schools are 2-4-in. and 5-6-in. coming latter in the fall.

Deep bodied, bluish, greenish, grayish above silvery sides, fins have a copperish sheen. Grouped into four categories for tying:  prejuvenile (½-¾-in., transparent, eyes are main feature, good luck); juvenile (slender body becoming opaque with tints of blue 1-in.); peanut or baby bunker (deep bodied, looks like a small version of adult 2-6-in.) and adult (up to 15-in.) 

Saltwater Flies & the Naturals