Hello everybody,
I’ve been fishing the surf (SoCal) for a bit over a year and slowly but surely I’m learning the how to. One of the favorites baits for perch, corvina, shovelnose shark and other fish is the sandcrab, really easy to catch and it produces VERY successful results, there your regular crab pattern tied with yarn and it works but I wanted to tie something that resembles not only the color but also the shape. Here is the result, please tell me what you think.
Part of imitation is putting the bait where the fish expect it, those might float in the surface above where the fish are. but give them a try the fish are always the final judge.
The fly is weighted with dumbell eyes and I’m fishing with a sinking tip fly line, I tried them already (like for the 15 min my kids let me fish) and the fly sinks (maybe a bit slow but it does) and it swims hook up. I guess I was just bored and wanted to tie a deer fly because it’s been a while since I did now that I mostly fish saltwater. If the pattern doesn’t work I will use the regular yarn pattern I have.
Thanks guys.
If you want the fly to sink try substituting rams (sometimes sold sculpin wool) wool for the deer hair. You can spin it on the hook and trim it to shape much like deer hair but it doesn’t float.
One beach that I fish here in New England is loaded with those Mole Crabs.
For a stretch of just 50 yards or so, the wrack line at high tide gets covered with shells and even still live partially eaten ones.
When the crabs are dislodged from the bottom by an incoming wave, they tumble in the surf. As the crabs are trying to recover and dive for the bottom, that’s when they get picked off by the gamefish
There can be some hot action right at your feet in the wash.
What you’re looking for is a fly that’s light enough to tumble in the surf, but then dive to the bottom as the wave recedes
The fly I use has lead eyes with a cactus chenille body, but the spun deer hair with the bead chain eyes will work just as well, depending on how heavy the surf is.
On future flies you can add weight if you feel you need it by filling your bead chain eyes with lead… The bro in-law taught me this trick years ago the lead wrapping wire is just the right size for fitting in the holes of the bead chain all you need is a pair of needle nose n a benzomatic torch mark your wire about every inch so you can control the feed n weight balance of each pair… Simple n very effective.
Thanks everybody for your comments, they have all been considered. Here is the result of the fly, I caught two yesterday but to be fair one was on a different pattern of the sand crab.
I thought the pattern looked familiar and it is. I checked Lefty’s pattern book and there it was listed as a sand crab and the roe sack is at the bend of the hook. Lentz tied the one listed in Lefty’s book. They work here on the East coast for stripers quite nicely. rel1
And will look better too