Fly Fishing Forum banner

Crab Apple

3K views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  saltydog 
#1 · (Edited)
Here is a fly of my own creation. I wanted to create a crab that was very life like and kept searching and thinking while checking out pictures and actual crabs down the cape... All crab patterns seem to be the right shape but not what I was looking for... While watching Rich Murphy at UFT two years ago I watched him tye his lobster fly and observed his use of partridge feathers for claws... I thought that the coloration was perfect for a brown crab. This is the only crab pattern I have in my box and use regularly picking up stripers on a dead drift. No luck on the flats yet but I will not give up. Hook- 3/0 short shank Varivas..... Thread- white...... First I tye the dumbell up toward the eye.... then, a mixture of olive and tan Krystal flash at the mouth... then a little fluff from the base of the partridge feather.... I want realistic eyes so I melt 40 pound mono, darken the tip for a pupil and cover with epoxy to enlarge the eye...then tye in..... I take two partridge Neck feathers ,trim and cut to form open claws and tye in in a defensive position.....Leave the hook in the vise and now work on the body off the vise. Then I cut brown foam to shape and coat with very light epoxy and set in three partridge neck feathers on top of each other.. one to one side the other to the other and one over the mouth... I let a little of the feather ends hang over the foam. let set... Then dot in spaces not covered totally by the feathers with an olive magic marker....now.... turn over and epoxy in olive grizzly hackle tips for legs...very light and let set...all of this is done OFF the vise jaws.... then when set glue on the hook shank... then apply another light coat of epoxy on top...let set and turn over and epoxy over the shank to lock in the foam on the hook shank.Thats it.. I tyed this fly at the Fly show in Marlboro and showed some of the FFF participants in our fly tying table last year. I think you will like the results and if you drop this in the water among like size crabs you will lose it. I call it the Crab Apple.
 

Attachments

See less See more
1
#5 · (Edited)
Speynut.... It is not really a time consumer except in the numerous epoxy settings..so about 1/2 hour. You can also make the body thick or smaller, whatever. The thin profile helps with any splashing effect, but that is not a main concern for me here as it might be with Bonefish. It is really ment to be fished stationary on the bottom. I had a number of looks on the Monomoy flats, but it seemed the fish would take nothing anyway. The current at the times I fished would not allow it to stay very still on the bottom... I look forward to the spring. I did pick up stripers on the blind with a drift. You need to be sure to keep your epoxy thin..just enough to cover the feathers... the first coat..then lay the feathers in . they attach nicely on the first coat and you can obviously move them into position perfectly with your fingers or bodkin... also, as I mentioned ,if you let a bit of the feathers hang over it gives a lifelike rough profile edge. I have done the claws differently...some wider..some thinner... these are inbetween. Green foam and different body shape makes a nice green crab. Don't worry about the epoxy yellowing..you want that anyway.... and I only have no more than three in my flybox.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top