February 28, 2009

Mr. Charlie, his brothers, and the damsels in distress

The beauty with most salt patterns, is that they can also be used on carp. The Crazy Charlie is no exception; meet his sane cousins:

Mr. Charlies
I've tied a few charlies up over the years for use on smallmouth, typically using craft fur for the overbeard and using color variations of white and orange. While watching a classic episode of Sport Fishing on the Fly this week, they were fishing a Crazy Canuck, a charlie variation tied with Polar Bear hair for the over wing. Seeing as how you are no longer able to legally obtain polar bear hair, that is no longer an option for me to tie, but on these mini-fly patterns, kip or calf tails fit the bill. Last year, I tied up a few miniature charlies for carp, on size 6 and 8 hooks; catching the show gave me the great idea to resurrect this deadly pattern.

damselflies
I monkeyed around with some of the short fibered glimmer flash chenille I acquired last week, and came up with a quick and easy damselfly pattern. The short fibered glimmer flash chenille formed a less bulky profile than estaz or cactus chenille. The thinner mylar and fiber strands on the thorax should present a more realistic approach, mimicking the breathing gills of a damselfly nymph. Another carp favorite.

"Gonna scare you up and shoot ya, Mister Charlie told me so."

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3 comments:

  1. I've got a crapload of crazy charlies in my fly kit atrophying from lack of use. Since I haven' been bonefishing since 07 and my prospects don't look good for '09, I'm going to put them in with the Roughfisher contest flies when I chase some carp.

    BTW, are you on crystal meth? Please explain your maniacal fly tying pace as of late. You've been hammering that vise.

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  2. no, I'm not on ice, it's called a May deadline to get 76 dozen flies done for an order. That, and having two young kids at home during the winter = me not fishing.

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  3. I'm in the same boat, but I just mostly pretend to play the guitar.

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