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07/04/09

bonefishing hawaii:

the brown charlie (e.t. style)

 

okay, today i thought i’d try something a little different in the blog and if this works out to be not to much of a pain, i will try to do it for the peeps more often and with more complex flies.

 

so e.t. has been banging bonefish for several months on a simple brown crazy charlie.  it’s been a good summer pattern so far.  i’ve caught a bunch of fish on it already as have others.  it’s not a new fly, it’s just pretty much e.t.’s version of a timeless bonefish classic the crazy charlie (which almost all bonefish flies are versions of in one way or another).  it’s a pattern that all bonefishers should have in their box and all tyers should know how to tie.  so this may be pretty elementary for many.  but it’s a good one for beginning tyers to learn as well as for low tech beginning idiot bloggers to take pictures of and blog about.  also this particular version has been one of the hot patterns these days... so here goes.

 

keep in mind that, as always, you can alter the size, eyes, wing material, and color.  paint the eye or don’t.  add flash or not.  don’t put the weed guard... it’s all up to the tyer.  this is just the way e.t. likes his.

 

the materials you’ll need are pretty basic.

 

hook: size 4 standard saltwater hook (mustad 3407, 34007, tiemco 811)

thread:  monothread

eyes: brass eyes

body: medium v-rib tan

wing: brown bucktail

weedguard:  relatively stiff mono 12-15lb. depending on the brand

 

start the thread and tie on the brass eyes using figure 8 wraps.  (beginning bonefish fly tyers get used to this,  you’ll be doing this about a gadzillion times in your tying careers.)

 

tie in a piece of v-rib flat side down.  i usually just take the v-rib off the spool and tie in the whole long piece instead of cutting a piece from the spool (chinese that’s why, i no like waste).  make sure to tie the v-rib in from right behind the eye and back to a little past the bend of the hook.  this will keep the body even so your fly doesn’t get a big hump butt.

 

now wind the vrib towards the eye of the hook making a figure 8 wrap around the eyes.  make sure that you are winding the v-rib with the flat side down especially when going around the eyes.  going up and over the brass eye can cause the rib to twist.  if you see hard edges you are probably wrapping it with the flat side up.

 

cut a piece of mono for the weedguard.  i like to tie it on the top side of the hook opposite the point and through the eye.  it can also just be tied on the same side as the wing which must be done with hooks that have smaller eyes.

 

flip the hook over.  cut a piece of bucktail and hand stack it.  to hand stack bucktail just hold the piece of bucktail and even up the tips a bit by pulling out the long ones and putting them back in the bunch with the tips more even.  repeat this until you get a nice looking wing.  tip for beginners, when tying it’s always better to err on the side of sparseness.  a wispy fly with few strands of material will fish.  a fat glob of animal hair that looks like road kill... not quite as often.  tie the wing in and cut the butts.  i like to cut the butts off before tying it in.  either way is fine but it should end up looking kind of like the pic.

 

bend the mono weedguard up and wrap thread on both sides to post it up. whip finish or make several half hitches to finish.

 

trim the weedguard so that it ends in line or slightly shorter than the hook point and add some head cement for durability.  stoked! you’re done.  repeat the whole process six to twelve times and go pound some of dem summer bones. 

 

none of this would be possible if sean didn't tell me about the flower thing on the camera. thanks and good times.

 

clay.


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