Crazy Charlie Recipe

[Justin]

Lads,
Have just sat down to tie a few flies to atack these Melbourne bream with - and drawn a blank when it comes to crazy charlies.

I know the basic design - but unsure of proven size, materials, colours etc.

Wing material? - do people find stiff materials ok (bucktail, ultra hair etc) ok or should I stick to softer polar hair, slf etc.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Justin

[wandtheswan]

i have found a material called Montana Fly (Gator Hair) very durable and just bright as you would want it for crazy charlies. very soft in the water and good for all sorts of flies such as clousers and minnows.
Another material would be rabbit(Zonka strips) in colours such as pink or chartruse for bream.
Calf tails are good too, but i like them for clousers espeically targeting Flathead and flounder ect when Blowies are about.
body material i have found AWSOME on charlies is Chenelle(christmas decoration scaled down to very very small) for bream flies.
hope this helps for you.:D

[wandtheswan]

here is the site that has the gator hair;)
http://www.dougswisher.com/brushes_&_material.htm

[Stuie_02]

Hi

Krystal flash, bucktail, zonker, marabou ? anything under the sun really there isnt a real right or wrong.

Traditionally the crazy charlie is tied with a bucktail usually white over the tan or something like that. I do a version with krystal flash pearl and a synthetic hair (very durable) something with out a crinkle in it and its very fine.

go to spotlight or habidashery shop and go and get some stretchy silicon very good stuff very cheap nice as a body. If you do have a chenille body i wrap light wire going the opposite way i have wrapped the chenille. This criss crossing should produce a bit more strength.

Cheers
Stuie

[fatman]

Try this link
http://www.ezy.net.au/users/flyfishillawarra/fly_tying/crazy_charlie.htm

Here's another good looking bream fly
http://www.ezy.net.au/users/flyfishillawarra/fly_tying/steves_estuary_fly.htm


FATMAN

[Stuie_02]

Hey fatman

That illawarra fly fishos web site has some excellent patterns on it and very nicel tied as well. there is a crazy charlie patterns there as well as well as a very nice bloodworm pattern and a polarfiber pattern.

Do you have the main pages of the site the site doesnt have much navigation.

Last time i was there i was madly Pdf ing all sorts of pages nice patterns

Cheers
Stuie

[pw-bream]

Stuie,

http://www.ezy.net.au/users/flyfishillawarra/

When in doubt about the index of a site just start by chopping off the filename, then directory names from the url till you get to a working index.

ie. (fictitious example)
www.fisho.org/recipes/flies/wet/salt/deceiver.html
www.fisho.org/recipes/flies/wet/salt/
www.fisho.org/recipes/flies/wet/
www.fisho.org/recipes/flies/
www.fisho.org/recipes/
www.fisho.org/

[pw-bream]

Forgot to mention, that site uses a cumbersome java button set for the nav. maybe that's why you were having trouble. Why on earth use java for a simple nav menu when text links or simple graphical buttons would do just as well with less fuss and trouble?

[Stuie_02]

hey fatman

i ried culling some of the name ack but i got zippo.
cheers for the URL

Really cant go buy without a vampire, purple and black, greens and yellows, black n reds


Link to vampire bass (http://www.ezy.net.au/users/flyfishillawarra/fly_tying/bass_vampire.htm)

Cheers
Stuie

[pw-bream]

If you're going to call me fatman I'm not helping you any more ;-)

[Stuie_02]

Oops

Your not fat not even pee wee maybe xlarge in height

Full explaination
im a goose


Short explaination
I have explorer sitting behind some windows on the second monitor

Cheers
Stuie

[fatman]

Hey I'm the fat one :D

http://www.ezy.net.au/users/flyfishillawarra/

Check out some flies on this site (have a look through the Fly Pattern Dictionary)

http://www.rareandunusual.com/tcs


FATMAN

[Stuie_02]

hey everyone

some excellent articles and patterns the fishnet one doesnt get much traffic


Fishnets flybox (http://www.fishnet.com.au/flyswap/)



Dan Blantons Site (http://www.danblanton.com/)
Excellent flies hear Sal Mul mar

excellent materials nice flies and a article from Lefty Kreh on his deciever

Articles on Dans site (http://www.danblanton.com/tack_tech.html)

Cheers
Stuie

[Chris Dunham]

Justin,

From what I've seen of the Melb brem your in for some fun.

I prefer to use as fluid a winging material for Crazy Charlies as possible. The stiffer materials like bucktail are great if used sparingly and from the softer tip and centre sections of the tail. A bucktail wing of about 10 fibres in a light colour and 3 or 4 darker ones on top works a treat and smells right too.

http://www.flyworld.com.au/flyworld.nsf/docs/PMG24/$file/PMG24_280.jpg

Zonker strip is and excellent material for smallish (#4 hooks) bream patterns. While not really a charlie any longer a very good pattern non the less. Black, rust, chartruese and olive are some of the best zonker colours.

http://www.flyworld.com.au/flyworld.nsf/docs/MW22/$file/MW22_280.jpg

BMS blend for the Muz Wilson hammerheads works very well.

http://www.flyworld.com.au/flyworld.nsf/docs/MW23/$file/MW23_280.jpg

With all of these patterns its a good idea to tie some the same but with differing weights like bead chain eyes, machined eyes, glass bead eyes etc.

Had a corker night over here in WA on Tuesday with black BMS flies on a floating line, my mate landing over a dozen bream for the evening.

http://www.flyworld.com.au/flyworld.nsf/docs/MW12/$file/MW12_280.jpg


As for the flash materials, Krystal flash is widely used in charlies with UV pearl being a favourite.

The new winging material Unique hair would be well suited to charlies as it is quite soft.

And of course sparkleflash is also well suited.

http://www.flyworld.com.au/flyworld.nsf/docs/010029/$file/010029_280.jpg

Hope this is of some help,

Cheers,

Chris.

http://www.flyworld.com.au

[Stuie_02]

Hi Everyone

Im mad keen about the crazy charlie my boxes are roughly 50% CC and some other flies as well. Chris mentioned the BMS top fly loads of movement nice pattern and works in a variety of situation doesnt weigh a ton.

Justin have a look at chris's site www.flyworld.com.au loads of good patterns and just about everything under the sun.

Cheers
Stuie_02

PS Chris that #7 TFO is magic