Martyn White | Thursday, 5 November 2026
This week's fly is about as easy as they come, and it'll serve you for fresh and saltwater whether it's flats carp, smallies or spooky bones. It's the Bunny Crab!
It's called a crab, but it's a long way from being meaningfully imitative of anything specific. What it is, is a food-like morsel that's full of movement and life with very little in it to make a fish reject it. Plus, if you get the stuff ready you can rattle them up very quickly once you settle into a rythm.
Here's the recipe:
Hook: Standard to short shank SW size 6-2
Thread: Flat waxed nylon
Weight: Bead chain or dumbbells
Legs: Any silicon or rubber leg you like
Body: Zonker strip
As far as overall colour goes just go with the usuals; white, tan, brown and olive for the salt. For freshwater black, brown, crayfish orange, olive or tan will do you fine. If you are tying them for smallmouth in rivers, a jig hook makes a good alternative to the straight hook, but you don't have to use one.
That's it, it's a doddle! You can add a bit of flash or some other accoutrements, but I never go more elaborate than using a contrasting thread so there's a bit of a hot-spot. Even then I try to keep it to a colour analogous to what will show up on prey items where I'm fishing, so oranges & pinks for light coloured crabs, or blues, greens & oranges on darker coloured crabs.
For bones, they're the kind of fly that just wants a couple of bumps to let the fish see it then watch for the pick-up, great for places where you tend to encounter a few big singles rather than large schools. For carp, the usual drag & drop will stand you in good stead and for smallies tie them heavy on a jig-hook and bounce them along the bottom like a crayfish.
So there you go, a simple fish catcher you can take just about anywhere. Tie some!