Ginger Grizzly Chickaboo Body Marabou Patch

Ginger Grizzly Ewing Chickabou Marabou Body Patch

Ginger Grizzly is ginger with bars, and on a flat, that’s the color of a crab’s legs. Permit tyers go through it by the patch. So do carp tyers, because a carp’s diet — crayfish, nymphs, small crabs in tidal water — is barred and sandy too.

Ginger Grizzly Ewing Chickabou gives you barred, warm-tan fibers for crab claws, shrimp tails and carp-fly tails. The bars add leg segments without markers or extra materials.

Permit, bonefish, redfish, carp and trout.

Recipe 1: Ginger Grizzly Chickabou Merkin-Style Permit Crab

• Hook: Saltwater #1–#4
• Eyes: Medium lead dumbbell, tied on top
• Thread: Tan 6/0
• Claws: Two Ginger Grizzly Ewing Chickabou tufts, splayed, plus 4 strands pearl flash
• Legs: 6 tan-barred rubber legs
• Body: Tan and brown yarn tied crosswise, combed and trimmed into a crab-shaped disc

Tying:

Build the yarn body in short, crosswise sections, then trim it oval. Mark a few dark spots on the back with a brown marker. The chickabou claws should extend just past the body.

How to fish:

Permit want the crab to look like it’s escaping, then hiding. Lead the fish by 6–8 feet, let the crab sink, and when the permit sees it, give it one long strip and stop. If the fish tails on it, wait for tension, then strip-set hard.

Recipe 2: Ginger Grizzly Chickabou Carp Hybrid

• Hook: Wide-gap nymph or jig hook, #6–#8
• Eyes: Small bead-chain or a tungsten bead
• Thread: Tan or olive 6/0
• Tail: Ginger Grizzly Ewing Chickabou, short
• Body: Tan and olive dubbing, picked out
• Legs: Ginger Grizzly chickabou fibers tied in at the head, swept back

Tying:

Keep the fly small and plain, about 1 inch. Carp spook from big flies. The chickabou adds motion without bulk.

How to fish:

Sight-fish to tailing or mudding carp. Drop the fly 1–2 feet in front of the carp’s head, let it sink to the bottom, then barely twitch it. Watch the carp, not the line. When the fish tilts down and stops, set.