When you think of hors d'oeuvres, you think of a fancy meal. Well - considering the bonefish I've been stalking have snubbed everything I've thrown at them, it has become apparent to me that I have to take it up several levels and bring out the fancy dishes. These fish want to play snobby, I'll lose the redneck and break out the bow tie and toecapped shoes.
Behold the "Hor d'oeuvre"!!!!
With all the time I've been spending on the flats, I have seen a lot of details that could easily go unnoticed. I've been studying the rocks and what lives on, in and under them and besides the mantis shrimp, these crabs are pretty prevalent.
I also tied a "weed guard" on to the fly to prevent the other most frustrating thing on the flats behind the prissy bonefish laughing at you all day long - getting the fly hung up on a rock just as a bonefish is closing in on the fly. We'll see if the bones will eat this crab...
The Horderve as tied did last through the fishing session. It also didn't weigh so much that it affected the casting (it actually cast pretty easily). What did happen though was the back of the body where the eye stalks poke through started to come apart and one of the claws started to come apart. I can fix the first problem with a velcro coin on top of the foam body. The second issue can be solved by using a little more clear cure goo 'hydro' along the length of the claw and not just the tip or pincher. This fly did turn some bonefish heads, but I wasn't able to set the hook. I think the snag guard I set up was too stiff (25# Mason). I think I'll tie the next Horderve with a 15# mono guard instead. I am getting closer the accomplishing this goal (catching a Hawaiian Bonefish).
The Fat Belly is a minnow strip that is used for 'whipping'. This one is thicker than the ones I normally use when I go whipping (seems like the papio and other fish like the thinner ones - more undulation action). I put some lead wire on the hook shank, then put some gummi body on the top of the hook shank. Then I put the minnow strip on top of the gummi body. I GENTLY wrapped the portion of the fly that covered the lead wire, whip finished and then reinforced the wrapped body with clear cure goo 'thin'. Too bad the fish didn't hit it.
