Bauer Crab Tan Fly

About the Bauer Crab Tan Saltwater Fly

The Bauer Crab Tan is a modern, highly effective permit crab fly designed to look like a small, soft-bottom crab settling naturally on the flats. With its rounded, “furry” tan body and splayed rubber legs, it creates an instantly believable crab silhouette. A dependable saltwater crab pattern when permit are tailing, tracking slowly, and inspecting everything closely.

The tan colour is a classic for light sand and pale bottom, giving you a realistic profile without the fly looking too dark or unnatural in bright conditions.

Fishing Tips:

How it works

• Proper crab profile: The bulky, rounded body reads as a crab at a glance, not a shrimp imitation – ideal when you need a dedicated crab fly for permit.
• Natural movement at rest: The rubber legs and knotted “joints” keep working with tiny current and micro-twitches, so the fly stays alive even on a long pause.
• Sits in the feeding zone: The pattern is built to settle and hold its shape on the bottom, presenting a convincing, easy target rather than drifting up and away.
• Tan = dependable realism: A go-to shade for pressured fish on clear flats, matching the washed-out tones of many real crabs.

How to fish it

• Lead the fish and let the fly settle. With permit, that first impression matters – give it a moment to “become a crab”.
• Use tiny strips and long pauses: short scoots, then stop. Too much movement makes it look wrong.
• If the fish tips down and tracks tightly, freeze it. Let the permit commit, then make one firm strip-strike.
• When fish are hesitant, go even smaller: one inch strip, pause… repeat. When they’re charged up, a slightly quicker scoot can trigger a reaction.
• Keep the rod tip low and strip-strike first, then lift once you feel solid weight.

Country of origin for this saltwater fly: America