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If the Clouser Minnow is the quintessential blue water fly then the Crazy Charlie is perhaps the same for inshore waters. First tied by American Bob Nauheim as a flats fly for bluefish this fly has proven to be a very versatile fly pattern. The original was tied both, with and without a tail, with sink chain eyes, a slim body and a wing that helped keep the fly inverted and riding point up. There have been many variations and adaptations. My version is based on the original tailed version and works well in estuaries on bream, whiting, flathead, taylor etc. I tie all my Crazy Charlie flies dressed relatively sparsely and generally tie them about twice as long as the hook shank and trim them down on the water if a shorter fly is needed.

Materials

Process

A	Wind the thread in touching turns from the 95% position to the bend of the hook and back to the 95 % position. Understanding hooks Take a few strands  of the body and tail material and tie them in at the 95% position with the rear end extending beyond the bend of the hook at least the length of the hook and with a similar amount extending in front of the hook. I use 4 long strands of Talon Pearl flash because its thicker and stronger than Tiewell Krystalflash. Working with synthetic fibres If your using Krystal flash you will need around six strands.

B	Pull the material that extends in front of the hook so that you have twice as much body and tail material extending behind the hook. Use your fingers to spread the body and tail material 360° around the shank of the hook and tie it into position all the way to the bend of the hook. Take your thread forward to the 3/4 position.

C	Tie in a set of bead chain, dumbbell or real eyes at the 3/4 position. Adding eyes to a fly Adding weight to a fly

D	As on optional step take two strands of darker Sparkleflash double it up and tie them in just in front of the eyes with the rear end extending beyond the bend of the hook at least the length of the hook and with a similar amount extending in front of the hook.

E	Pull the Sparkleflash that extends in front of the hook so that you have twice as darker material extending behind the hook. This darker contrasting material can represent the lateral line on a bait fish or the vein on a prawn or shrimp and also adds an extra bit of definition and flash to the fly.

F	Tie in a bunch of around 40 super hair fibres just in front of the eyes. Lift the butt end up and trim the excess off with a sharp pair of scissors  horizontal to the hook shank. Economical use of synthetic fibres By trimming in this way you get a gradual slope in the trimmed Superhair fibres whereas if you just trim it square to the shank of the hook you will have a definite ridge.

G	Build up a neat head of thread over the trimmed Superhair butt ends. Whip finish the head, trim the thread and paint the head and the tie in of the eyes with head cement.

H	If I decide to trim my crazy charlie fly down in length I generally trim it off with a tapered tail rather than just a square cut tail.

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