2 hrs on a crab fly !!

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#1 Post by **Ronald** » Mon Jan 07, 2008 10:14 pm

:lol: sent the last 2 hours tying this thing ,I just hope it works :) its my first attempt at a crab fly so dont be to hard on me ,but any pointers would be appreciated ,
Tied on a size 4 ,fly line for legs ,buck tail for claws (of sorts) and body made from multiple layers of epoxy on a thin piece of plastic, green base colour with a scribbling of black permanent marker on each layer as i built the body up around the legs tied to the hook .

#2 Post by **jack01986** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 8:02 pm

Looks very very good :D nice one. Might be a bit hard to cast but is very good.

#3 Post by **pete** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 10:44 pm

Looks a bit like Murdoch, the side profile anyway :D Very impressive though Ronald, for a man thats new to fly tying your no slouch at it.

#4 Post by **Tom H** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 11:57 pm

Thats looks very nice 8) Never have got around to crab flies must do...

#5 Post by **Ronald** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 12:12 am

anybody any suggestions for legs ,was thinking of dacron and run a marker over it to darken the fibres down ,just fly line seems abit stiff .
I'll put the mark 2 version up when i get the time to tie it :lol: as marty said to me last week ,its addictive when you get started .
the last time I tyed flies was about 15years ago when trout fishing was all i done size 12- 16 are a bit more fottery :lol: looking forward to getting out for some decent sessions come spring time for wrasse and pollack on the north coast .

#6 Post by **jack01986** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 12:24 am

You could try some elastic legs they would have a lot more movement than the fly line like some here http://www.lakelandflytying.com/146/Legs.aspx

#7 Post by **Ronald** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 12:28 am

perfect ,have to raid the stationary now and see what coloured/size elastic bands are kicking around .
thanks Jack .

#8 Post by **dave armstrong** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 12:33 am

Have you tried that silly legs stuff? Used alot on surface poppers. I tried using regular rubber bands on mine but they induced a helicopter effect into the fly which wound the leader into a knot.Have since tied a few with the hends body glass, which seems stiff enough but still has plenty of movement. Have also thought about using veniard super stretch floss. Much lighter and more rubbery. Have yet to tie anything with it though.

#9 Post by **Tom H** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 12:34 am

Have a look on ukswff.com some good stuff on there. will have to register but.

#10 Post by **Ronald** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 12:41 am

Hi tom ,I registered on there the other day ,still to get a chance to have a good read at some of the stuff ,looks like a mountain of information .
Just trying to get a feel for what I actually need pattern wise ,rather than tying up a load of unneeded flies .

#11 Post by **Tom H** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 1:09 am

At the end off the day dont think that fly fishers need 95% off the flies in there boxs. BUT WE MUST HAVE THEM :lol: :lol: :lol: Good to see you on the ukswff site. Take your time and have a good look around. Some very good stuff on there.

#12 Post by **lumpy** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 1:28 am

hi ronald, very nice fly, is similar to the crab apple fly, google it and you shoud find a tying for it, its quite straight forward and a bit quicker than 2 hours if you so wish

if you are looking for crab flies try "dels merkin" crab pattern. its one of the standard bearers for crab patterns and one of the most succesful for permit which are predominantly crab eaters. google it and their should be plenty of step by step ties on it

#13 Post by **Davy Murdoch** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 9:10 pm

pete wrote:Looks a bit like Murdoch, the side profile anyway :D Very impressive though Ronald, for :lol: a man thats new to fly tying your no slouch at it.

you`re just jealous cos i didn`t fall over on our new years eve pollack session.i might crawl over the rocks like a crab but i def don`t look like one :D

Sun Feb 17, 2008 11:57 am

was looking at this wondring if a berkley crab could be cast with a fly rod and twitched along the bottom i have had bass and coalies on them in darkness / dusk ,maybe they would be to heavey to cast ? what would your fly weigh ?

#15 Post by **jack01986** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 8:43 pm

Couple of grammes maybe not much at all really, poppers and those crab flys might be a bit more.

#16 Post by **Jonny** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 3:15 pm

Had a wee go at a crab myself a wee bit messy and a few alterations needed for MK2 :roll: :lol:

[img]http://www.jonnyandrews.f9.co.uk/Flies/Vscrab.jpg[/img]

paulocallaghan · #17 Post by **paulocallaghan** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 3:36 pm

sorry if this is dragging the thread off topic but;

would crab flies actually be a viable pattern?? i dont SWFF but just curious is all. i would have thought traditional crab baits worked mainly on scent, and the target species for hard backs is usually wrasse, would the teeth of a wrass not destroy the lure on the first take????

also if there is a little bit of weight in one of these lures would you be able to use it on a light spinning rod (rated 7-20gram) with a really slow retreive.

#18 Post by **Jonny** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 4:04 pm

paulocallaghan wrote:sorry if this is dragging the thread off topic but;

would crab flies actually be a viable pattern?? i dont SWFF but just curious is all. i would have thought traditional crab baits worked mainly on scent, and the target species for hard backs is usually wrasse, would the teeth of a wrass not destroy the lure on the first take???? Probably !! but if you managed to hook a decent sized wrass of the fly rod I think it would be worth it. I also ( I may be wrong but) think a Pollock or a Coalie would attack a lonley little crab :?

also if there is a little bit of weight in one of these lures would you be able to use it on a light spinning rod (rated 7-20gram) with a really slow retreive.Yes! I think it would be possible as you could make these whatever weight you wanted. Could be worth a try :idea: 8)

#19 Post by **jack01986** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 5:51 pm

Nice effort jonny better than my attempts at a crab fly, dont know how easy it would be to cast that not as aerodynamic as your average fly :wink: A good tip i got was to use a glue gun and make a shell back with the hot glue http://globalflyfisher.com/patterns/crab.htm and you can use nail varnish to paint it different colours. Crab flys are popular patterns for bonefish and permit in the tropics. Id deffo say that wrasse and pollack would take them here as well good fight if you got a nice wrasse on a fly rod.