Martyn White | Thursday, 12 October 2023
I've been thinking a lot about crab flies recently. Partly it's because of some of the exciting new materials that are turning up from the Australian guys (and being copied by some others), partly because of the permit failure in Okinawa and partly because I coincidentally stumbled across a few articles about Del Brown in different places all on the same day.
There's a lot to be said for the new flats craft stuff that Chris Adams is putting out at Beastbrushes.com, and the results certainly speak for themselves. It seems like every time I look on instagram I see another picture of a permit with a crab tied with the flats craft stuff hanging from its chops! Because theyre designed and tested by guides who know what they want. That said, there are also a lot of flies and materials turning up that clearly put appearance over fishability. I think we could charitably say they're inspired by Chris's stuff, if were being uncharitable we'd say they're rip-offs, but they're not being tested and even from the photos it's clear that they'll not be functional. They look great but that's not the be-all-and-end-all. Too uneven, they'll spin on the cast. Too light they'll tumble along the bottom or not sink properly. Misplaced weight or materials and they'll sink weird, maybe upside down.
These new components aren't why this is happening, but they've made it easier. Some years ago, a very well regarded tyer was on the same trip as me and was showing me some crabs he'd made using absorbant materials so he could use less weight. He spent a long time telling me how good they were, and they did look good with lovingly crafted claws and legs made from fibre and resin. He was a bit put out when I said it they were shite because there wasn't enough lead on them and they'd roll about the bottom like a bit of rubbish, or at best just waft around. Crabs do a lot of things but wafting isn't on the list as far as I know. Not only that, they'd be no lighter from a casting point of view once fully waterlogged. Two days into the trip he told me I was right.
I'm far from an expert, but I do fish crabs. I know what I want them to do and it's usually pretty simple: Sink and stay down until I move it. If I can make it look realistic that's an advantage. To paraphrase Dell Brown, the merkin isn't the most realistic looking crab fly, but it behaves like a crab. The merkin probably still has accounted for permit than any other pattern and that should tell us something and not just for permit fishing either.