I tie it on a size 4 or size 6 short shank (I use a few hook brands).
Tie in dumbell eyes two hook eye lengths back.
Wrap thread back to the bend of the hook and then tie in a hot spot (I use orange bucktail or orange chenille).
Tie in a sparse clump of marabou under the hot spot and a little flash (and eyes/ legs if desired).
Then just figure eight some clumps of EP fibers (I like to go clumps thicker than pencil lead but thinner than a pencil and then trim to density I am looking for) merkin style. The thicker clumps are used to help tilt the fly up a bit like a fiddler trying to fight off a red - completely not needed- but it makes me happy.
Basically, a really small crab pattern- and I normally keep it on a 6 wt like @rovster said for sheepies- but I do toss at Reds as well.
Let me be clear- I rig it to throw at Sheepies …. Not that one of those crab munchers has ever been LANDED on it when I throw at them. I have them do everything but eat flies.
Pics like this @Brandon allow me to delude myself into thinking they will eat.
My last three trips, we got shots (I was solo the first trip and cast at two for 15 mins to no avail). The second trip, I was on the platform while my angler put perfect casts at a nice one. I actually think the sheep bit- but it was so quick my buddy couldn’t come tight. Like 1/1,000,000,000 of a second quick.
The fly’s weed guard was distorted and I saw the fish move on it but moved off it just as fast.
There y’all go giving me false hope.
I feel like Jim Carey from “Dumb and Dumber.”
“So you’re saying there’s a chance!”
And thus, when the grayish blue tails pop up, I push over with all the hopes of a kid at Christmas… only to have those hopes dashed on the rocks of the most pissy fish on the planet.
(Yes, I know that Permit and corvina are supposedly there as well)
@JaredD I feel ya. I chased em last winter, when they come in here thick, to no avail. I’m starting to think I’m mental, cause I’m actually looking forward to it.
Most recent was a Couple, two weeks or so ago, I spotted this little fella over a big sand bar. Figured why not. I take the shot, and immediately darts away, but only about 2’ and stops, spins around and heads to the fly. I’m thinking oh boy, this is it. He’s gonna be the one.. Then he Looks at it and quickly gives me the old tail fin salute and hauls a$$ outta there. Lil bastards!!
So after messing around with EP for a few different failed attempts, I figured I spin up some bucktail to see how it would turn out.
I think it’ll catch.
Thanks.
I actually used lighter dumbbells on this one, but the intended area for it is skinny mudflats/flood grass areas. So it should sink and work out just fine. If not I can added heavier dumbbells on future ties.
There is a very easy way to lay ep fibers, I’ll try and record the process, it takes me 5 min to make an epcrab. It requires precutting, and layering with a rotary vice, actually the same technique that I use when creating the head of an ep minnow. I prefer that to brushes, however it requires proficiency which can be attained after three or four bugs. #mikecockman
My other issue, is my hands.
I don’t have office worker hands, so ep and other synthetic fibers just don’t get along with em
Amen to that. I’ve got junkyard hands. They don’t look too bad right now but they used to be beat up most of the time. Tying flies or wrapping rod guides with silk thread is an exercise in futility.
That’s nice! Fiber can be a PITA at times I tied a little fiddler the other day to just experiment. Tying in the fibers worked but I had to back them out a few times and reattempt. Looked like a little pineapple like yours sans legs. Good luck with that thing!
For my area at least, any yarn Merkin body will work. For picky or tailing reds, where you have to slide the crab under their nose to get their attention a merkin with some kind of large claw is better. Keeping in mind that fiddlers (the crab with one big claw) are shore line crabs and run in packs of 100s. If you are casting on a shore line or under shallow mangroves then fiddler is an option. Fiddler are not typically aquatic crabs. If your red had a bunch of actual fiddlers and you hooked it in 3ft of water then he likely had his fill before you got to him. More probable, if he was actively feeding on crabs when you hooked up, they were juvenile crabs that live in the grass, not the big claw fiddlers. All that is food for thought when you want to toss a fiddler vs a plane old merkin.
In as far as fly tying. For me a fiddler pattern is a Strong Arm Merkin or some variant of and a juvi crab is regular Merkin. There are a million videos on tying them. They are super fast and super cheap to tye. Use 100% polyester yarn, the big stuff for knitting (2 bucks is a lifetimes worth), and actual “silly legs” or buy some replacement spinner bait skirts and snip off what you need. Again, one pack will last a lifetime.
If you are going strong arm or fiddler variant there are any number of ways to do the claw.
There are also felt crabs but the same purists that would poke you about using scent might poke you for those too.
The magic with crab patterns is how you weight them. That depends on what debth you are fishing them and is there any current, but generally you want a negative buoyancy (crabs almost never swim up) but you want still want some hang time and a little flutter as it sinks.
