Description
Bob Nauheim tied the original Charlie in the late 1970s for a trip to Andros Island — sparse, elegant, and specifically designed to land soft on skittish Bahamas bonefish. The pattern was so effective that guides started asking for "one of those crazy Charlies," and the name stuck. This is the Christmas Island / X-Mas evolution — same silhouette, tuned for the pancake flats off Kiribati where bones cruise in inches of water and refuse anything landing hard.
Hand-tied on a Daiichi 2546 saltwater hook. Small silver bead-chain eyes for a soft entry, tapered mylar body ribbed with color wire, sparse craft fur wing with a few strands of holographic flash. The fly rides hook-point up. It lands like a shrimp settling to the bottom.
Two proven colors:
- Tan / Orange — copper wire rib, red thread head. The classic X-Mas Charlie color. Works on any flat, anywhere, anytime. If you can only carry one Charlie, this is it.
- Tan / Chartreuse — chartreuse wire rib and tag, olive thread head. The "come look" color for bonefish and small permit that need something a little louder — off-color water, low light, or a fish that ignored your first four flies.
What eats it: Bonefish primarily. Small permit. Redfish and specks on the marsh in tan/orange. Baby tarpon in the mangroves. Even sheepshead when they want a shrimp.
How to fish it: Lead the fish six to eight feet, let the fly settle. Short strips with pauses — the Charlie darts and drops, and most eats happen on the fall. Watch for the flare. Strip-set hard.
Size: #6. Hand-tied on Daiichi 2546.
Build a Bahamas box. Fish this fly with the rest of the FINATICS bonefish set:
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