As of recently I have really started tying a lot of flies for the upcoming months. My only problem is that I only have one crab pattern (Del Brown’s) in all of my boxes. Does anyone have any crab recipes or links to same they would be willing to provide? I would be most appreciative. I found an old Fly Fishing in Saltwaters article that talked about an effective pattern called Zap-a-crab, however, after numerous hours on google and dogpile I cannot find any more info. Thanks again.
2005 1442LW Alumacraft With Camo Clad System
2006 25hp Yamaha Four Stroke
Tie a few Kwans on a good 800 or 811 Style #2 & #4 hook. The primary Orivis Site has the tying instructions. If your interested in any of Borski’s stuff, he has a couple of nice DVDs out that discusses several of his patterns & methods demonistrating his Chernobyl Crab for Bones & Reds as well as how he ties it for Tarpon. There are a bit pricy but worth the money if you want to gain insight and perspective into his tying theories. For what it’s worth, I personally like cross over patters that are a bit imprestionist. You can always take some rabbit strips or craft fur for the tail section and wind on some Estaz for a very effective shrimp, crab & craw critter combination. I’ve also tied this same patter with a Marabou Tail if you want to make it a bit buggier. You can even add in some sili legs and or yarn to give the body a bit more mass. If your going more for a shrip look, keep the tail section a bit longer however if you go the opposit direction you’ll get more a crab or crawfish profile. Lastly, you may also want to check out some of the Toad Pattersn that’s becomve very popular over the past couple of years. Thier initial claim to fame was on Tarpon however weighted they have become quite popular for Permit, Reds & Bone Fish. Just tweak the size & style of hook you use as well as play around with the eye weights until the fish let you know what they perfer.
i also like to make tails (which crabs dont have) out of craft fur barred w/ marker or magnum rabbit. they def. get more fishes attention. Like Merkin tied his bodies, vary materials until you find one you like. I like sculpin wool by Montana fly company. it flares alot and can be trimmed extremely close and still retain its qualities. I remember an old fly tyer issue where they used pheasant feathers (wide cathedrals) and tied them into the carapace and covered them it epoxy or zapagap. they looked so real Id eat em. Ben alderman used to have a link to tying the zap a crab. try his site for an exact recipe. superfly. to build up a body w/o a ton of estaz. tie a small strand of bead chain in a semi circle, tying in only the first and last of the eyes to get a half circle on one side of hook. this is a great base for wrapping estaz/ similar and adding some weight.
Thanks for all the ideas guys, they have helped out alot. Scotty D the bead chain idea worked out great. I have turned some decent flies tonight. I also found some GREAT patterns in a book called innovative saltwater flies that I picked up at the angler. One of the authors, Glen Mikkleson, has some crab flies that put the real thing to shame.
Thanks Titeloops. Here is the full image.
You will be very happy with the Tibor.
Come tax refund time I plan to get one of these babies:
2005 1442LW Alumacraft With Camo Clad System
2006 25hp Yamaha Four Stroke
The zap-a-crab is a fly I created in 1998. It was featured in the article “the Red Tied” by Bob McNally in the July/Aug 2000 FFSW. I used to have the recipe on the web, but its long gone now.
I made this fly when I was fooling around with Zap-a-gap (ZAG) and it’s accelerator- Zip Kicker (ZK). Its just super glue that hardens immediately when hit with the kicker. Other super glues are the same, but zip kicker is not always easy to find. You can make better ones with epoxy, but it takes a lot longer and timing the whole thing with curing epoxy can be tricky.
Basically, you glue 2 small glass rattles side-by side on the hook shank with the point up. Leave a little gap between the hook eye and the rattles to attach a weedguard later. Wrap them tight with thread, add more glue, and flip it over. Put a drop of glue on each corner and attach rubber legs. You can actually use any kind of legs, but I usually took a double strand of the round rubber leg material and tied a couple knots in them for joints. You can roll the knots to make the legs bend one way or the other at the joints. You can make the claws with more legs, clipped feathers, or whatever you think looks like claws. Add another big drop of glue to round out the bottom and give it weight to make sure it falls hook point up. Flip it over (point up)add a drop of ZAG and add burnt mono eyes. Make sure they point out to the side and slightly up to keep them away from the hook point. If they stick straight up, you compromise the gap between the fly back and the hook point. As with any crab fly , its important to keep that gap as wide as you can to ensure good penetration. I then glued a little estaz under the eyes for a mandible area, then add a thin layer of glue to attach the back. The back could be any number of traditional crab-back materials, like strips of chenille, furry foam (split in half to keep it thin), yarn, and braided material I’d cut to look like a china back. I used to tie them brown (mud or baby stone crab) green with white legs (baby blue
I second Ben’s crab. He gave me one long ago (Ludens maybe) and I wore out the tailers with it. It was very much like a fiddler and the rattles really got their attention. I never really tried to do one myself, I never got the kicker and that was the key. Good old chernobyl crabs or toad like things with legs work just fine here. Its all about presentation. As a keys legend always says “a bonefish will eat a potato if you work it right”
Here is a link to a fly swap done at the MHP site with a lot of good pictures in it. http://www.mbcboats.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/23786/fromsearch/1/hl/crab\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\|flies/tp/1/
Thanks a lot Ben, that pattern sounds killer. I ordered a Tuffleye kit today and this sounds like the perfect pattern practice with it. I will post some pics when I finish so you can tell how bad I screwed it up. Thanks again to everyone for the help. I have so many ideas racing through my head now I can’t wait to try em all out.
2005 1442LW Alumacraft With Camo Clad System
2006 25hp Yamaha Four Stroke
Hey Ben, I got the chance tonight to play around a little with your zap-a-crab pattern. Would you mind taking a look at the pics below to see how far off I am? If anyone else has any ideas or suggestions, I would love to hear em!
Thanks all!
“The man who coined the phrase “Money can’t buy happiness”, never bought himself a good fly rod”
im ready to make crab cakes. those look good. are the claws made out of the tuffley stuff? i usually put a little purple in em, but mine are not nearly as realistic.
we dont need no reservations we dont need no cruise control
Thanks guys. I think the two I tied after that one actually turned out better. Mostly because I did not use a 3x strong hook so it did not take as much material to counter balance the larger hook. The claws are made out of saddle hackle feather with a ultra light coating of tuffleye finish. I worked the finish into the feather with a toothpick and then hit it with the light.
“The man who coined the phrase “Money can’t buy happiness”, never bought himself a good fly rod”
The claws are made out of saddle hackle feather with a ultra light coating of tuffleye finish. I worked the finish into the feather with a toothpick and then hit it with the light.
I wondered what material you had used for those. Good lookin’ flies! They should be a killer pattern - looks so realistic they may even work for the sheeps.
