Lee Haskin
03-31-2010, 09:22 AM
About 8 years ago I starting tinkering with crab fly designs.....
....... and learned something from a guide in the Yucatan, that stuck with me. It is proving to be true, and I have been attempting to apply his insight ever since.
This guide claimed that not all permit caught with a fly were caught because the fish ate the fly. His idea was that a permit tastes the fly with his lips before sucking the fly into the crushers, and the fish will ONLY suck the fly into the crushers if it is a "good fly". In other words, just because a permit is hooked or even caught, does not mean it actually ate the fly. He believed that if the permit was hooked by the lip, it may have been hooked accidently, before the fish could reject the fly. He claimed that only a permit hooked deep down in the crushers, would indicate a "good permit fly".
Soooo I started to keep track of how my permit were hooked and have been tying crab flies with different "feel" to see if there was a pattern. I found that crab flies with a hard, custy shell were clearly more acceptable, using the theory above. When I took standard raghead designs, and coated them, solid hookups increased.
Now my next puzzle piece:
My mentor and legendary permit fishermen, Del Brown, claimed the 60 deg. jig hook improved his hook up ration, so I started using an EC 413 hook, with good results.
My goal was to produce a crab pattern that incorporates the following:
1. Develop a hard crusty shell that did not impact the gape of the hook.
2. Use the new Tar 9413 jig hook, which is superior to the EC 413 in strength.
3. Weight the fly so that it always sank head first, and landed hook-point up (always). Test it in a pool.
4. Arrange the weight so it would swim hook-point up (always) and look natural. Test it in a pool.
5. Find a way to add claw legs that look, natural, like the shell, and hold their shape.
6. Find an easy way to add legs and eyes.
7. Use materials that has give me many different color options, and combinations.
8. Generally, make the fly as easy to tie as possible.
9. Make it durable.
10. Above all, fool and hook permit deep in the crushers!!!!
This final version will finally get rolled out this summer in the Yucatan and Belize. We'll see if it works! The permit are the final judge!
Sorry for the long post, but we fly tyers can get very obsessive. Grin!!
Cheers,
Lee
....... and learned something from a guide in the Yucatan, that stuck with me. It is proving to be true, and I have been attempting to apply his insight ever since.
This guide claimed that not all permit caught with a fly were caught because the fish ate the fly. His idea was that a permit tastes the fly with his lips before sucking the fly into the crushers, and the fish will ONLY suck the fly into the crushers if it is a "good fly". In other words, just because a permit is hooked or even caught, does not mean it actually ate the fly. He believed that if the permit was hooked by the lip, it may have been hooked accidently, before the fish could reject the fly. He claimed that only a permit hooked deep down in the crushers, would indicate a "good permit fly".
Soooo I started to keep track of how my permit were hooked and have been tying crab flies with different "feel" to see if there was a pattern. I found that crab flies with a hard, custy shell were clearly more acceptable, using the theory above. When I took standard raghead designs, and coated them, solid hookups increased.
Now my next puzzle piece:
My mentor and legendary permit fishermen, Del Brown, claimed the 60 deg. jig hook improved his hook up ration, so I started using an EC 413 hook, with good results.
My goal was to produce a crab pattern that incorporates the following:
1. Develop a hard crusty shell that did not impact the gape of the hook.
2. Use the new Tar 9413 jig hook, which is superior to the EC 413 in strength.
3. Weight the fly so that it always sank head first, and landed hook-point up (always). Test it in a pool.
4. Arrange the weight so it would swim hook-point up (always) and look natural. Test it in a pool.
5. Find a way to add claw legs that look, natural, like the shell, and hold their shape.
6. Find an easy way to add legs and eyes.
7. Use materials that has give me many different color options, and combinations.
8. Generally, make the fly as easy to tie as possible.
9. Make it durable.
10. Above all, fool and hook permit deep in the crushers!!!!
This final version will finally get rolled out this summer in the Yucatan and Belize. We'll see if it works! The permit are the final judge!
Sorry for the long post, but we fly tyers can get very obsessive. Grin!!
Cheers,
Lee