Craft Fur Minnow and Recent Report

[Whitner 0]

Here's a pic of a little fly from this evening. Should be good for trout and may throw it in the surf this summer.

Oh, and was down in the Keys last week and managed this beauty. Threw a fly a dozen times at the school, but they weren't interested. Had to throw a live crab. Hope that doesn't offend anyone here.

[atxdiscgolfer 0]

Nice fish!, i bet there is not anyone on this forum who doesnt bring a spinning reel for fishing the salt in case of wind or other factors. I must admit that i am a purist when it comes to fishing for rainbow trout with a fly rod because fishing with a spinning reel just isnt the same but saltwater species will test the drag system on anything you use

[kimjensen 0]

Very nice fly.

[mikechell 0]

Doesn't offend me, but I'll bet the crab was pretty pissed off.

That is a beauty of a ... Permit? Jack?

I can never remember all the different fish available out there.

 

Nice catch.

 

Pretty bait fish pattern up top, too.

[FlaFly 0]

too big to be a pompano, unless it was on steroids. I'd say permit.

[agn54 0]

beautiful permit, and the use of bait does not offend us here in the saltwater forum the way it seems to for the freshwater trout guys. I always bring spinning and casting gear to toss plugs along with my fly rod unless I'm wading. I only use bait occasionally but that's because I'm too cheap to buy any and too lazy to cast net it You did exactly what I do, chuck the fly and if they are not interested chuck something else until they hit.

 

Great looking fly. Is that epoxy or UV resin for the head? The craft fur minnow has been my go-to fly lately. The trout and everything else on the flats absolutely crush it. I even got a regular catfish on one last week (not a sail cat which more often hit artificials) and have taken a few mullet on them as well. How did you tie that one? I usually do the body with a series of hollow ties

[Whitner 0]

That's a Perm indeed. They have more of my respect than any other fish out there.

[Whitner 0]

AGN45. The head is clear cure goo that I put a thin coat on just to get the fibers back nicely, to build the head a bit and keep things from fouling around the hook.

To start, I tied in a chunk off the back of the hook with some flash, then made a dubbing loop and dubbed in full length fibers though out the body. Finished it off with some chartreuse down the back.

[Betty 0]

Hey you traveled all that way to catch so if it's real crab they want after a dozen casts then live crab it should be. Nice fly as well!

[tidewaterfly 0]

Love the fly & the Permit is a beauty!

 

Well done!

 

I don't often fish with bait either, but am certainly not opposed to it or offended by it's use! Time & place for it all!

[Piker20 0]

Do you find you need to use crabs while they are soft shelled? In UK we don't really use crab unless they are in molt. The smell is meant to excite the fish. We call them peeler crabs but they could be any species of crab.

[Whitner 0]

Piker, we throw live crabs whose shells are hard as can be. The fish that eat them like Permit and Bonefish have crushers that smash them with ease. No need to use soft shells.

[mikechell 0]

I almost never fish with live bait. Every once in a while, the stray child population around my neighborhood gets a bit out of hand. It's then that I think of alligator and shark fishing with live bait ... if you catch my "drift".

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

Great permit... When I came back to guiding almost 20 years ago and went full time a very well respected long time fly angler who lives in the Keys and has caught everything from billfish to permit on fly gave me a piece of advice that I've followed to this day... He said to always keep at least one spinning rod aboard along with all those fly rods for the days or situations where the fly is just a ticket to frustration... and there are always those times and situations. Permit are a fish that can be caught on fly if you really work at it... and some would rather spend 20 days on the water just to get one to eat a fly (I'm not in that club since a permit is just a fantastic fish on any tackle - they fight like a combination of a big jack and the biggest bonefish around..). They might eat a fly -but they'll always come after a lively small crab....

 

Tomorrow I'm lucky enough to fish a world class fly angler (fishes 20 days a YEAR world wide with guides, salmon in Russia, trevally and giant bonefish in the Seychelles, south America, central America, -even Africa...). I always look forward to his visits from Europe, and yes, we'll also have a spinning rod or two aboard... My tarpon had better look out when Joe is in town...

[Peterjay 0]

Nice permit - considering the fact that they've been known to drive flyrodders to the brink of using explosives, I'd say tossing a live crab ranks pretty well down there on the list of angling offenses. (my father once held the European hand grenade record for northern pike, so I'm well versed on the subject) My main problem with bait fishing is that it's often boring as hell and not much of a challenge.