Well, FFFW is coming out with some really interesting stuff.  Just recently they introduced a new fly tying column and the fly the selected was the Big Ugly, created by Bonefish and Tarpon Trust Guru, Aaron Adams.  Great stuff.

You can even buy these flies from Dr. Adam’s site.

I’m trying to round off my fly selection for the upcoming Bahamas trip.  Gotchas are flies I have in spades… with bunny, with rubber legs, with calf tail… have some velcro crabs, have some bone crushers.  So… what else?  How about the Mini Puff… seems a popular pattern and, like a lot of bonefish flies, it doesn’t take a PhD. to tie.

Fly Angler Online has this version.  This seems to be one of those patterns that everyone does in their own style.  On some, the wing lays down flat, others have it angled upward, like this version at The Fly Shop.

I’ve read this fly described as a “good searching pattern” or a fly for fish with lock-jaw.  Another tool in the toolbox.

The Fly Shop version

I am, really, a novice at all things bonefish (sadly, interest level does not equate to experience).  Still, it makes me feel a bit retro to be tying up one of the “early” bonefish patterns, The Horror.

The guide I ended up booking for my one day of guided fishing in Grand Bahama, Captain Perry, has the Horror on his list of flies to have in your box.  I read in Chico’s book (read the Midcurrent.com review) that he still likes the pattern as well.  Doesn’t require a lot of materials (brown buck tail, chenille, thread).  Sounds good.

So, I sat down and tied some.  Man… these have to be the easiest flies to tie since the Sweet Earnies!

E-Z, but still effective (according to folks that would know)

I found this little history of the fly, which makes for an interesting read.

Have you ever said to yourself “Man, I’d tie a Gotcha but it is just too hard!”

Yeah, me either.

Still, time is wasted as you switch between different materials and the single material fly is a cinch to tie.

Enter the Sweet Ernie.  Found in the e-pages (i-pages if you are reading this on a mac) of Fly Fishing in Saltwaters, the Sweet Earnie is hook, eyes, thread and single material.

http://www.flyfishinsalt.com

Photo grace a Fly Fishing in Salt Waters.

This is Fly Daily recently put up a bonefish pattern by Dan Delekta.  If you can tie a Gotcha (and, really, who CAN’T?), then you can tie up this pattern.

Turns out I’ve been to their fly shop, the Beartooth, just off the Madison.  If you’ve headed from Ennis to West Yellowstone or $3 Bridge, you’ve passed it too.

From TIF, Click to see more

Having filled my flats fly box to capacity with Gotcha’s, I have started looking into other flies I should be bringing along.  I  read an article by Craig Matthews (the article was on www.flyfisherman.com, but is only available on the cached view from Google) where he was talking about the stomach contents of those unfortunate bonefish that, while on the line of an angler, become half landed fish and half ‘cuda or shark snack.  Turns out those fish mostly have their stomachs with them when reeled in and those stomachs, almost always, have crabs in them.

Davin from Flatswalker.com and my buddy Shane Kohlbeck both had recommendations for crab patterns to tie.

Davin recommended Merkins or Rag Crab patterns.  I found a great tutorial for the Merkin from Quest Outdoors.

Merkin from Quest Outdoors

Now, that’s a good looking bug, er, crustacean.

Here’s a YouTube tutorial…

My fishing buddy Shane recommended a Merkin or Velcro Crab.  Velcro?  That sounded pretty interesting.  Fly Anglers Online has a great tutorial on the Velcro Crab.

That's a good looking crab!

I was looking around for tan velcro, but I see that this is actually tied with white velcro and colored.  So, I’ll be heading back to Walmart tomorrow.

UPDATE: I went to Walmart and picked up 15′ of white velcro and a set of Caribbean Color (I’m not making that part up) Sharpies.  Here is my first attempt… I think I’m going to enjoy this pattern… at least how it looks, we’ll see if the bonefish enjoy it as well.

UPDATE #2: This fly has the tendency to spin on the hook, but I’ve come up with a solution that seems to help.  I simply tied one or two sets of the plastic eyes on the back of the hook before putting the Velcro on.  Those T’ed the hook and made it pretty much impossible for the fly to spin.  You could also use a short section of cut wire (think paper clip) (That was a dumb idea… would rust quickly… don’t do that).  Superglue added just before you close the Velcro sandwich also seems to help a lot.  I’ve also switched the colors of the crabs to more of a gray.  After looking at some pictures of swimming crabs (in Dick Brown’s bonefishing book), it is seems they really aren’t brown.

UPDATE #3: I threw a couple of these into water and found two things… 1. they didn’t sink well unless totally soaked, and 2. it was 50/50 for them landing correctly (point up). I talked with Shane about this and he, of course, had the solution… trim the fuzzy velcro on the bottom of the fly.  The fuzz catches air and makes it not sink well, but if you trim that on the bottom… well… it will land correctly.  He also crushes lead barbell eyes and puts them in the pattern… have not done that yet, but that would work too.

UPDATE #4: I’ve taken to putting some UV Knot Sense (or the Rio product, which is pretty much the same thing) on all the bits and pieces (legs, eyes, pincers) and putting the UV lamp on it before superglueing it closed.  This seems to be increasing the durability of the fly.

My first Velcro Crab.

While searching the tubes of the internets for crab flies I ran into this…

It's crab... tied with... crab.

That has to be the crabbiest looking fly I’ve ever seen.  The main reason for that would be that it is tied with… crab.  Some really good looking crabs (including the crab crab) on StripersOnline here.

I’ll be tying up some crabs in the weeks to come.  I hope the cast of The Deadliest Catch doesn’t knock the door down.

I thought it might be interesting to comb through the different outfitters/lodges/guides to see who recommends what when it comes to flies one should have in your box when fishing a particular destination.  To keep as much to an apples/apples comparison as possible I am looking only at Grand Bahama.

On GBI, one of the venerable players is the North Riding Point Club.  I’m sure lots of folks book them, and they probably book direct too, but for this particular exercise I looked at the listing by The Fly Shop, my one time local shop (I moved).  They seem to be fans of the “everything” philosophy… here is what they say you should have…

~ McVay Gotcha # 6 – # 2
~ Clouser Minnows #6 & #4 (chartreuse/white) (tan/white) (pink/white)
~ Crazy Charlies #6 (silver, amber, crystal pink, crystal chartreuse)
~ Mini Puff (with and without bead chain eyes) #6, # 4 (pink, tan/orange, chartreuse)
~ Chico’s Bonefish Special #4
~ Raghead Crab #8,
~ Miheves Flats Fly #6 (tan, brown)
~ Rabbit-strip Gotcha #4 or #6
~ Shane’s Psycho Puff #4
~ Tuxedo Gotcha #6
~ Flats Rabbit #6
~ Bone Voyage #6
~ Magnum Mantis #2 – 6, (tan, olive)
~ Big Bone

Wow… I better get tying!

Grand Bahama Bonefishing, and outfit I don’t know (but then, I wouldn’t, anyway). is more minimalistic… basically they say #4-6, Gotchas, Crazy Charlies, Clousers, Puffs, Horrors.

Hmmm… maybe I DON’T need to get tying.

The Blog for Deep Water Cay just gives an idea of what the top flies were… lots of #2′s in there… Gotcha’s, Mantis Shrimp, Bonefish Scampi.  The blog was last updated in 2008, so don’t go and bookmark it just yet.

Flyfish Travel books Pelican Bay on GBI and they go with “everything” philosophy as well… here is what they say you should stock you box(es) with:

Bonefish Flies: We recommend at least six dozen bonefish flies for the week in varying weights and sizes.

* #2-4 Clouser Minnows in Gotcha, Gold Shiner, Silver Shiner
* #2-6 Gotcha, Gold Gotcha
* #4-6 Krystal Charlie’s in Gold and White
* #4-6 Horrors* #4-6 Tan Yarn Crabs
* #4-6 Tan or Golden Mantis Shrimp
* #4 Orange Christmas Island Special
* #4-6 Tan/Orange Bonefish Puffs
* #4-6 Crazy Charlies in Tan/Gold, Tan/Pearl and Gold
* #6 Moose Turd
* #4 Borski’s Super Swimming Shrimp
* #2-4 Rabbit strip bonefish flies in brown, tan, white and pin

So, what’s a guy to do?  It seems the basic take away is #4-6 with a few #2′s.  Colors muted, with a couple bright ones.  Six dozen flies does seem a tad overdoing it (or massively overdoing it unless you hire a fly caddy).

The one item lightly touched on was weight (see the pun there?  Yeah… I’m pretty punny).  From barbell to mono is the range and folks in the know say that often weight is the key issue.

I think I’m pretty much on the minimalist side of fly selection, so we’ll see if that works for me.  In trout fishing if they won’t eat a PT, Poopah, zebra midge or ugly bug, I’m not going to waste my time on them and I’ll just move 15 feet and cast to the fish that will.  Of course, bonefishing might be a little bit more complicated… just a wee, tiny bit.

After driving from Maine to Logan Airport (which my Garmin had never hear of before, for some reason), flying from Logan to SFO and then driving 2.5 hours East all with my 2.5 year old, I’m tired.  Dead tired.  Really, really, tired.  So, how about some fly tying vids from good ole’ Youtube?!

I’ve been tying a bunch of Gotcha variations.  They are just soooooooo easy.  Seems that about 80% of bonefish patterns vary in materials/look/concept by about 2%.  A Charlie is similar to a Gotcha with is similar to lots and lots of other flies.  Just hope the fish don’t want crab patterns (which I have not started to learn just yet) or epoxy (my efforts to replace epoxy with hot glue or other substitutes have utterly failed not gone well).

You can hear this guy’s dog doing some heavy breathing, which may remind you of a few dozen dogs you’ve met in your life.