Steve catching Jacks on this fly San Salvador,
Bahamas.
Fly
Fishing History
As
with many of the worlds most successful patterns there are a huge number
of variations on the original pattern. The Crazy Charlie is one of those
patterns. Crazy Charlie’s can represent anything from small baitfish
to shrimp of which the crab and gold variation represents these very
well. Although this pattern was designed for warmer climates it works
well in UKwaters. Fishing this fly from rock marks produces mackerel, Pollack and
garfish and when fished in estuaries or sandbanks can produce flatfish.
From
a tying design perspective the Crazy Charlie offers some noteworthy
points. The first in the heavy dumb bell eyes ties in at the top of the
hook shank. This ensures that the fly will fish ‘up side down’
giving the advantage of the hook point has less chance of getting fouled
by water debris. The dumb bells also give the fly a ‘jigging’ action
in the water which predatory fish find attractive. Lastly when the fly
is fished over sand the dumb bells create small puffs of sand similar to both sand eel and shrimp. I have
used this method to great effect on trout flies such as cat’s whisker
which can produce when other methods have failed. As
said earlier I have had great success with the fly in the UK but also overseas.
Bed the hook with tying thread; tie in a tail of gold crystal flash and
crab yarn. Return the thread to just before the eye of the hook. Tie in some more
gold crystal and then return the thread back up the hook to the eye
position. Wrap the shank of the hook with pearl tinsel in touching tie off and
trim. Tie in the dumb bell eyes on the top of the hook shank with figure of
eight wraps ensuring that the eyes are 90 degrees to the hook shank
otherwise the fly will twist in the water when fished. Tie in a throat hackle of gold crystal flash and crab yarn. Tie in a
neat head whip finish and varnish. For extra durability I varnish with
Sally Hanson’s hard as nails including the figure of eight wraps over
the dumb bell eyes.
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