Description
S.S.Flies originally custom tied the Raghead for anglers heading to Belize and the Bahamas. Looking at the commercial versions we immediately saw room for improvement. Our clients were going to be fishing skinny water so we used a smaller than normal eye. Crab patterns always work better with Cree hackles for legs so we made that substitute. The body of a crab is seldom one solid color; we custom blended wool to give the fly a mottled appearance. A weed guard and cool looking eyes rounded out our pattern development.
The reports were great. Anglers loved how the fly looked in the water; it naturally settled in a defensive crab position on the bottom and when needed, it stripped well and didn’t spin. The Raghead caught fish on days when the fishing was great and other days when fish were refusing all other flies.
Although small crabs like the Raghead are usually fished in the Caribbean this fly has been effective on the big fish in the Keys. Brian Eliason landed a 51 lb permit on a Raghead in 2003! An angler armed with a selection of our three crab patterns in different colors and sizes will be ready for just about any situation where fish are feeding on crabs.
Our Raghead now comes in three sizes, #1, #2 and #2 small. The #2 small is tied on a short shank hook resulting in a body closer to a #6 fly but with the extra gape of the larger hook.
Different sizes available as custom orders and we are happy to tweak colors for picky fish. Visit our custom tying page to learn more.
Order below or call 207-452-2343, 9am-5pm Eastern time.