Martyn White | Thursday, 24 September 2026
Following on from last week's simple bonefish offering, I thought I'd go with another that while a bit more involved, is still a doddle to put together.
It's the Bobby, a nice little generic shrimpy thing that might have something of the crab about it. Like the turd it only uses a couple of materials, but the end result is something that people will probably find easier to have confidence in because it looks a bit more like something a fish might eat when it's in the hand. Which is nice I suppose.
Here's the recipe;
Hook: Saltwater of your choice 6-2
Thread: Flat waxed nylon
Weigh: Beadchain or dumbbells
Claws: Hackle tips, tied splayed
Body: Rayon chenille
Body Hackle: Cock hackle.
I always like to almost but not exactly match the hackle to the body colour so the fly is one tone but not just a single colour. Cheap little indian cock capes are great for this, they're readily available in cree, variants and creammy off-whites. They're cheap as chips too, so get a load of them and if you want to, dye them to suit what you like. For example you can throw a cree in a spent light olive dye bath you've used for other materials or a dye a dun variant fluorescent yellow if you want a darker olive.
Tie them in white, tan, olive and brown to suit the bottom you're fishing over.
In Dick Brown's book, the sample picture had the hackle trimmed on the hook gap side and left long on the underside. I trim it the other way, and my way is better.That's mainly because of physics, where the drag is in relation to the hook bend and weight the fly is more stable when stripped, and is guaranteed to fish point up even with the smallest of bead chain. An added bonus is the hackle barbs are on top of the fly so actually provide some visible movement when the fly being stripped or at rest.
As with all flies you can add a little bit here and there or make some substituions. In the POD for example, I've used Fluo shell pink danvilles to put a bit of a hot spot between the claws and and the tie off. Painted bead chain would do a similar job. You don't need to do this and there might well be days when a plain version will be more effective. I love brushed dubbing and I think a Bobby tied with well brushed EP shrimp dub instead of chenille looks great, the little bit of sparkle might help but I can't confidently say it's going to radically outperform the original.