Tuesday 22 May 2012

The Golden Olive Crab.


Top View
Front View
Bottom View

  This is my first attempt at making a saltwater crab fly or lure and  I also try to make it as realistic as possible with what ever material that I've got in my fly tying cabinet. This crab pattern is not my original idea and there are lots of other crab pattern out there which look somewhat the same, I got the idea from looking at fly pattern photos on Google search and saw a really cool crab pattern by Dron Lee from Malaysia, He also got a blog call Fly Tying Nation which have the step by step photo instructions on how to tie his saltwater crab pattern. But this is my version of the saltwater crab fly and how it's made is kind of different from his. I will list all the material needed for tying this crab pattern below and try to simplify the all the tying instructions. This is not a hard fly pattern to tie, but will take some time on preparing the materials like the knotted goose biot for legs, cutting out the perfect crab shape shell from a piece of lint free wipes which I use for cleaning my tv & computer monitor. The size of the shell really depend on the type & size of hook you use and to adjust the size & shape accordingly. For the crab claws I just used two hen feather and remove the tips and made a knot in the middle of the feather to make it look like claw joints. After all the materials are prep and it's time to tie them on the hook. Start by tying in one side of the crab shell on to the bottom of the hook shank near the hook eye, remember which end is front and back, because the goose biot legs need to be tie in with the curve facing the rear and on top of the hook shank. The eyes are tie in next, how far out and apart is really up to the tier and depend a lot on the size of the shell and the material used for the eyes, like heavy mono thread, real shrimp or crab eyes. The claws are tie in next to the outer edge of eyes. The whiskers are tied in between the eyes, the type of material and how many hackle fibers used is up to the tier preference. After everything is tied in, turn hook over and pull the shell to the hook bend and tie off. Cote the legs, claws, shell and tie off point with some regular head cement. Add a thin layer of uv resin on top of the shell, make sure is the right shape before curing with uv light, fill in the rest of the body with uv resin and cure with uv light and one final cote of head cement. Wait until dry and color the shell and body with some specialty or sharpie permanent markers and the fly is complete.!                      
The list of material used.

  • Hook- saltwater. size 1 to 3
  • Legs- knotted goose biot.
  • Claws- knotted hen feather.
  • Eyes- shrimp or crab eyes or sub heavy mono.
  • Whisker- grizzly hackle fibres or sub antron.
  • Shell- lint free wipes, uv resins, head cement.
  • Colors- special golden olive marker & black sharpie permanent marker. 





No comments:

Post a Comment