Drew Chicone's Mole Crab
- A signature mole crab or sand flea pattern by Drew Chicone
- When you're stumped on what flats fish are keyed in on, give them mayhem
- Imitates the behavior of a mole crab
- Weighed down with tungsten beads strung along each side
- When stripped, the disturbance of the sand triggers the strike
The Secret Fly of the Flats
More than once we have been stumped by bonefish and permit eating sand fleas or mole crabs as they are sometimes called. Sam Wike often talks about the tailing bonefish in Belize that wouldn’t eat anything until he finally realized the fish were eating tiny sand fleas and after cutting most all the legs from his tiniest crab pattern, he finally got them to eat.
Sand fleas are often not on your list of flies you get from the guides or lodges but sometimes it is the ticket, and we highly recommend you have at least a few patterns in your box.
Chicone’s version is tied to imitate the behavior of a mole crab. The tungsten beads along each side of the crab get the fly down into the sand and perfectly keel the pattern. When stripped the disturbance of the sand is what triggers the strike and the realistic imitation of a mole crabs' movement. Chicone ties this with natural materials including coyote and Finnish raccoon for and even more realistic look.