In the previous post, I showed you a crab fly that Dave used to nail a nice red – of near 8 pounds. Great fish. That got me headed to the vise to build a crab fly too. Hey, monkey see, monkey do. I chose a size 1# hook. I think a 2# would have worked, but I wanted a bit more weight to get the fly down. Naturally I picked rubber legs with a touch of hot orange. So they went on the hook first. Then I made a body from Craft Fur. Color? Shrimp.
Near the eye of the hook, I tied in a 1/36 ounce lead eye. This will also help get the fly down where it belongs. Moreover, during the retrieve a lead eye causes the fly to jig. That type of action is a proven way of catching a redfish’s attention.
Next I tied in a 30 pound mono weed guard. If you look closely you can see it in the picture above. Since I wanted the body to hold its shape, I worked a little super glue into the Craft Fur. Lastly, I used laundry markers to add color to the carapace. Brown, green, and even a hint of red. So will this crab fly work? I hope so.