Saltybum

About two years ago I found a fresh dead Great Blue Heron on the side of the road. Since I keep FWC's ( Florida Wildlife Commission ) in my phone I gave them a call and inquired as to the legality of plucking a few feathers from it. The answering officer said he would check it out for me. After a minute or so the officer came back on said "pluck away".

I may have to inquire about pelicans now since quite a few are dying around this area of Florida due our toxic environment.

I'm sure though that if one were to try and start selling these feathers there would be a legal issue.

Down by the lighthouse can be very good early mornings with the start of an outgoing tide. The current will bring all the typical food out for the predators laying in wait.

Do post the results of your trip.

I actually don't think there is much salt in the water in these ditches etc. since there are quite a few gar in them along with tilapia.

So you shouldn't feel to out of place Mike.

Mike, I'm actually south of 528 in Merritt Island and these areas are both north and south of me with the most accessible areas being just north of the Bee Line.

Monday they were hitting crazy at my first stop about 7:00 pm but only hooked one about 18". Thought the other spots would be the same....not.???

Today I hit it early 6:30 am but the hits were slow in spite of seeing a lot of them rolling. Jumped only one before getting the photo fish a coouple miles north. Oh well, beats a sharp stick in the eye any day.

Ditch tarpon is heating up and I'm getting a bigger fish each time out. This one is about 25" and six pounds or so but I've seen some that had to scale 40lbs.

Just can't seem to get the big girls to eat though. I'm sure if I decided to take a 5wt one would most likely slam it.

Good to see you've maintained your sense of humor through it all.

I always say when I lose that...it's over.

Well the dink gator wananabee trout are still around. Kept hoping something bigger might be around to feed on them. Not.

However after finally getting a bunch of rain the ditches and marsh canals have some decent water in them and the juvi tarpon are here. Saw one roll right in front of me 18 feet away that rolled my eyes...looked to be 30-40lbs ( not a juvi ! ). Jumped several smallies and finally got one.

Well the dink gator wananabee trout are still around. Kept hoping something bigger might be around to feed on them. Not.

However after finally getting a bunch of rain the ditches and marsh canals have some decent water in them and the juvi tarpon are here. Saw one roll right in front of me 18 feet away that rolled my eyes...looked to be 30-40lbs. Jumped several smallies and finally got one.

PC keeps acting up and this is my third try, so this will be brief.

I started out a 1/0 jig hook and Kevlar thread as I need a strong thread for packing the deer hair carapace down. First tie on your choice of weighted eyes appropriate for your water depth etc. I wrap the whole hook fairly heavy to help keep the deer from spinning when I stack it for the carapace.

For the orange mouth I use fluff from an orange hackle.

Tie in your eyes of choice followed by small grizzly feathers for the claws. I used a blue and green together. For tan sand crabs use the appropriate colors.

Once all these parts are tied I apply liquid super glue to everything to lock it down.

Once the glue has cured I start stacking deer hair on the top side and add a drop of glue to keep it on top. I mash the hair down with my thumb between clumps and push any back up that might have tried to spin under.

Next is silly legs for the crabs legs towards the hook eye and then one more clump of deer hair at the back. Be careful not to tangle the legs in the last clump.

Trim to shape. On this one I added some ccg on the bottom to lock it all in place as I don't want my deer hair twisting around.

Really pretty simple and I hope the photos speak better than my typing.

Any crabs crawl under your door yet Jeff?

Long time no see brah! Welcome back!

I rarely see a fly rod with any fancy thread work. I've some small amounts on mine but yours is sweeeeet!

Do you know what kind of blank was used?

Spray the tail material with scotch guard.

Well after pro-crab-stinating mine finally went in the mail today.

For those who don't know what a snook is. Awesome fish! Like a very smart bass on steroids.

If I was going with Redington I would step up one model with the lifetime warranty and fly rods are fragile toys.

Hmmm, I was thinking about saltwater trout. Apparently does not apply here.

Flats will probably tie a bunch of schminnows. I've only caught two snook on flies so I will pass this time after tying a bunch of crabs that were definitely laborious.

For a $1000 I can make plenty of reels last long enough and not feel bad about tossing them and still have change left over.

Where do you get those hooks, or is that something you fabricate yourself?

Ok, I'll get started on it. But it will take me a bit to put it all together and make sense out of it.

I could do an SBS if anybody is interested. How ever none of my crabs have ever actually been tossed at a fish to prove their worthiness or lack of.

Mike

That's why I built that 9' 3wt a few months back, just for these non-rainbows.

agn54

I've been planning to make a short road trip but always seem get distracted and not go. One local capt. I know told me that he had to start doing his charters around Grant because the Banana is so dead. The water is clean and pretty but I don't even see blow fish, catfish and rarely a sting ray anymore. Loads of mullet around the 528 area. Hopefully the predators will follow...or get to grow up.

After last years algae bloom big trout have been extremely scarce but recently getting a lot of small ones like this and up to 12-15" max.

Hopefully they'll get a chance to grow before getting killed again.

fshng2 in this case I tied them in assembly line fashion. First step was lead eyes and orange marabou and mono eyes. Second step was grizzly claws on all eight. Last step was deer hair carapace and silly legs.

Crabs have a lot more steps than a baitfish or seaducer which I tie one at time. Also this was actually the first time I tied more than one crab at a time. Doing the step thing seemed to be better for me.

Old hat, I actually don't know what size hooks they were. Loose left overs from some jigs I made but they appear to be about size 1 when compared to SC15.