Hook: Mustad RN0 #6
Thread: Danvilles mono tying thread
Materials: Bucktail, Copper tinsel, Chain bead eyes
Other equipment: Veniards head cement

1. mount hook in vice and start the tying thread around the middle of the shank but a bit closer too the eye.



2. cut off a pair from you chain bead eyes and tie in near the eye of the hook.



3. start winding behind the eyes and tie in your copper tinsel.



4. wrap the tinsel around the shank and back up to where you started behind the eyes. (glue around the tinsel is optional)



5. rotate the hook 180 degrees so its upside down in the vice.



6. cut of bucktail either sparse or a big bundle and tie in infront of eyes.



7. tie everything in neatly so it gives a cone head.



8. glue the head of the fly and the eyes, whipfinish.



this is a very popular fly with bonefish anglers with tan bucktail.



dan.

Hate to be a downer, but that fly is tied 'Charlie' style, but is not a 'Crazy Charlie'. In a 'Crazy Charlie' the tinsel is over-wrapped with mono and the wing is usually tied with calf tail, although marabou and synthetics like 'sea-fiber' are occasionally used. A short tail of flash is often incorporated too. It's interesting to note that the fly was originally called a 'Nasty Charlie' and the wing was not hair, but a pair of hackle tips. The orginal Nasty Charlie was developed by Bob Nauheim. He developed it on Andros Island and named it after his guide, 'Bonefish' Charlie Smith. Smith would keep saying "that's some nasty fly" as Nauheim caught bonefish while others could not hook up.
The fly was given the 'Crazy' title by Orvis when they started selling the pattern.

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What hooks are those? not an issue just don't normally see many down eyed hooks used on saltwater flies. Saying that the down eye would lower the centre of gravity and help keep the fly riding hook up.

JRT

Looks like a Mustad R50 John. I tried some down-eyed carp hooks on my super sparse clousers a couple of years ago. I found I was not getting the number hook ups that I did with a straight eyed hook.

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i always thaught that a nasty charlie was the ones with feathers on the side of it..? sorry about this though if only i could get calf tail but you have a rough idea of it anyway.

Dan,
Don't apologise for putting up something that was intended to be helpful. When we write something on these boards it isn't easy to put any inflection in your voice.

I feel sure that MJB doesn't want you to give up on doing these and had this conversation happened face to face I'm sure that would be clear.

Not being an expert on salt water flys and fishing I can't say for sure but it looks a perfectly good fly to me. Perhaps not to the original recipe but as your version quite as valid as anyone else's version of a pattern. Keep 'em coming.

Cheers,
Alan.

Yep please don't stop.

Great fly that will and probably has caught fish.

WCB

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Keep them coming fisherdan, your SBS's are excellent and appreciated by all.
MJB was being helpful, not critical.

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