Parts of Crab - phase two

So while parts are drying - here's an update
Yesterday arvo, I put together 10 sets of crab claws

I then tested my ideas for the base of the crab

The crab fly base to which every thing else gets glued
A bent long shank hook each side - add eyes (glass bead on mono) and deer hair fibres for mouth
was thinking of a glass rattle in there but can't find them in my tying material boxes

Sadly on testing to see if the claws move freely - I find the space of hook eye of the claw hook is too small for the metal that makes up the hook eye of the crab base structure - bugger!

Solution --- small split ring? (thanks Sam for the idea)
Don't know if it will work yet as need to get a very small split ring
Its a great advantage posing a question online and getting multiple answers to help

Back to the making the legs..........
Originally I was thinking of buying pre made store bought latex legs for the crabs
But might as well buy the entire fly or a lure and fish the dark side than do that!
If I was tying commercially - (20 years ago I did! - so silly!) - I would buy the preformed legs as much quicker to tie with and will do the job - but for me, for personal use - make your own.
Plus the monsoon is bucketing down outside and seeing when you can't go fishing -- let's tie flies for when it stops raining

After the rubber legs option was ruled out - I was focusing on the polarfibre based legs which I have written about in my last blog

But I was needing a few items from the shops. First an El Cheapo chemist for some coloured nail polish (hot pink and fluoro orange for the tip of the crab claws), then Bunnings for some black spray paint for the carapace, and lastly - Spotlight - for a bits and pieces like fabric paint in yellow for carapace spots - Serendipitously, I also found some interesting knitting wool from the "Florentine Collection" in Bruno colourings. It was in an odds and ends bin on special.

A bit thicker than I wanted for the sized crab I wanted to make, but if you cut it in the right places you could have a bi-coloured claw
A bit too flexible - but I think I had a solution for that.
I could not resist it - the colours where just right for local crab species - plus it was only a $1.40 for the ball of wool - so why not!
Also bought a crocheting needle for making the 'knee' knots so much easier.

So spent the evening cutting and sorting according to colour of tip and arm sections
I cut it all up and bagged it in groups in zip lock sandwich bags based on colour combos
A large ball of wool but couldn't stop till it was all cut up - caught up on TV shows online while I was doing it!

Then today I started to work on a set of legs for the 10x crab flies I am making
So chose a leg colour combo of dark brown arm and orange tip
Tied 'knee' knots in all of that colour (about 300 pieces), then took 60 of those knotted legs to work on for today

To stiffen up the legs - I used thinned clear silicone
This is made by putting the silicone in a container (a film canister for me) add enough mineral turps and stir thoroughly with something (a skewer for me) until the mixture is the consistency of condense milk or similar fluid. it stays quite separate in the container but keep stirring it will eventual meld into a single fluid.

I rubbed the silicone into material with my finger tips - right into the wool - and then smoothed the material and shaped a right angle into the material - bending at the knot and placed the legs on a stick proof baking tray. Once dry, they will be trimmed to size (they are a lot bigger than the polarfibre legs I was making).

this size issue creates dilemmas on top of dilemmas. Make one change for something not planned for and it ripples down the production line!

Tying these types of flies are so different to the simple coverall candies and clousers I turn out in bulk for local pelagics. But as I have posted previously that 2017 is hoped to be a time to step up the SWOFFING a level - more flats and while some flies will always work - more realistic flies will be needed too.

And while complicated and having multiple steps these crab flies I am tying will be worth it on that first fish that tips onto top of it to take the fly into its mouth. I felt the same when trout fly fishing many years ago - a simple red tag or red spinner or a nymph I used to make out of my orange moustache hair and the orange thigh fur of my ex's favourite cat! I hated more complicated flies due to my fat fingers which would bend the tiny hook as I tied material to them, but I tied them anyway cause it elevated the whole experience.

Stay tuned - more complicated time eating steps to follow