PLEASE NOTE: In order to post on the Board you need to have registered. To register please email paul@sexyloops.com including your real name and username. Registration takes less than 24hrs, unless Paul is fishing deep in the jungle!
Not specific to Boca Grande. I copied this part, "Floating Crab Fly Pattern
Some crabs have swimmerets that allow them to swim at or near the surface. Blue crabs, for example, use theirs to navigate tidelines and attach themselves to floating seaweed that will transport them safely through passes and inlets with the current."
Most patterns are tied with hollow deer hair. Two examples.
During the florida summer I'll venture out early, very early. Sometimes I'll catch the falling tide, and witness crabs swimming near the surface. Other times, I witness shrimp floating in the drifting sea grasses.
Although, the photo makes the weed guard look very stout.
On a size 4 fly, I would not use much more than 12#... you only want to guard against weeds, not fish. I'd rather foul some grass occasionally than miss hook ups!
With appreciation and apologies to Ray Charles…
“If it wasn’t for AI, we wouldn’t have no I at all.”
Yes...I normally use double weed guard as a rule. This time being a #4 hook I went with a single, but stouter. Body is Merkin style, with Lydia's yard. Wanted to use EP fibers, but didn't have the colors.
I added legs for some detail.
Tied the fly to use for Red Drum.
I know they were catching permit on floating crabs up around Broome a year or so before I fished Exmouth (around 10 years ago). But whether they were actually being eaten for crabs I have no idea!
I had an interesting time on my trip. As I was walking over the dunes to reach the sea I noticed many large grasshoppers. The wind was quite strong and blowing them onto the sea. I even had them crawl up my leg while wading the flats. The Spangled Emperor were eating them! I happened to have one of Dron Lee’s grasshopper imitations in my box that was a perfect imitation in every way and proceeded to catch Spanglies on dry flies (you can see this rear the end of the Fishing in Exmouth SLTV episode )
Do you ever get to fish dries in the mangroves, Gary?
Nope... no drys, if you mean a fly that floats and left to rest motionless on the surface.
Poppers and sliders, yes, and probably the best surface fly was called a Fluter. It was made from a special tapered foam head that sprayed the water backwards along channels. Unfortunately, the heads were discontinued many years ago by the manufacturer. I still have a few that I am hoarding with plans to somehow mold and make my own.
There is a curious little "mangrove crab" that lives in the roots and occasionally falls onto the water. Just about everything that swims will eat them, but they too "scoot" rather quickly across the surface. Now that it is getting cold, the crabs can commonly fall into the canoe since they get very lethargic and hardly can move until the sun gets up. When I'm out there and haven't caught anything legal for dinner on fly, I'll scavenge a few stowaway crabs and fish them on the bottom of a creek. Dinner is usually only a few minutes away.
I have mused about tying some crab flies to mimic them but they would be stripped slowly across the surface, not "dragless".
With appreciation and apologies to Ray Charles…
“If it wasn’t for AI, we wouldn’t have no I at all.”
That’s a shame! Yep I was thinking landing with a plop and then left until the rings disappeared. Maybe if no reaction then a small twitch and left again - like freshwater Bass fishing for example. That would be fun
I was reading that you have a toxic species of grasshopper that has no prey as a consequence. I was wondering if fish ate them and were affected/unaffected or somehow knew to avoid them. I assume it’s baitfish then that eat the bugs?
The hopper you probably read about is the Lubber. When full grown it is over 3", fat, and strikingly yellow and red. They are even more curious when young, because then they are primarily black but have thin yellow stripes. The young commonly will congregate on a single small shrub... and so, are very easy to capture in large numbers. Neither the young or old bother to move very fast as they seem to know they don't have to.
When I was a kid I filled a bait bucket with the little black ones and anticipated a banner freshwater day. No fish would touch 'em.
Not surprisingly, the primary insect of the lower 'glades is the mosquito. While swallows, bats, and dragon flies eat the adult mosquito, the real cornerstone of the food web is the mosquito larval nymph, commonly called "wigglers". Also, probably not surprising is a ubiquitous "minnow" called guess what...the mosquito fish. These little guys are perfectly adapted... they can breath air at the surface of a stagnant pool, and they also can estivate, which means they can burrow into the mud when a pool dries up and wait until it rains again. When the rains come again, the mosquito eggs hatch, and the mosquito fish is also there and ready.
With appreciation and apologies to Ray Charles…
“If it wasn’t for AI, we wouldn’t have no I at all.”
)