Like the Woolly Bugger--but unlike many crab patterns--the Diablo is easy to tie and moves well in the water. Its soft-fiber construction creates a crab imitation with inherent movement (in contrast to stiff, motionless crab “sculptures”) even when the pattern is paused on the bottom during the retrieve.

The Diablo is constructed of soft materials that collapse when wet, creating an aerodynamic profile that casts as easily as a Clouser Minnow. The Woolly Bugger design lends itself easily to size and style variations, making the Diablo Crab a potent saltwater fly. I have caught 77 Florida Keys bonefish in the last 10 years--all unguided and on foot--and most of them have taken a small brown Mini Diablo Crab. Permit pounce on larger brown Diablo Crabs.

The standard Diablo is heavily weighted to get it quickly to the bottom, where crab-hunting flats stripers expect to find their prey. During the retrieve the pattern’s soft body fibers and legs sweep backward as the fly is stripped, allowing it to glide smoothly without twisting or other unnatural movement, and then they spring back to a full crab profile on the stop--a natural crablike behavior that entices gamefish to strike.

The Diablo is relatively simple to tie. The pattern requires no glue (except to finish the head), no sculpturing, and no tedious leg attachments. The Diablo uses simple tying techniques for the tail, leg, and body construction. Basic skills--wrapping the hook shank with chenille, palmering hackle, and attaching lead eyes are all quick and easy tasks. I use a special method for attaching the rubber legs that’s simpler and faster than in other crab imitations.

Proper material selection is the most important element of this pattern. I specify weights for the lead eyes, rather than small, medium, large, because it’s important to weight the fly appropriately, not just to turn it over hook point up, but so it sinks quickly. The correct feathers are wide, webby, and soft schlappen--not premium hackle--to ensure the tail and body are pliable with lots of inherent movement. The wrong hackle can lead to a stiff, bristly appearance that defeats the purpose of this fly.

---

Alan Caolo has been flats fishing for 15 years, pursuing bonefish, permit, and tarpon in the tropics, and stripers in the Northeast. He is the author of Sight-Fishing for Striped Bass (Amato Publications, 2001).

This article originally appeared in the July 2007 issue of Fly Fisherman.

1 2 3 Next