Crayfish Pattern

[smallmouthjoe]

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to get some feedback on my attempt to tie a crayfish pattern. I know its just a pic however any advice would be appreciated.

[Jason R.]

Honestly that thing is ugly but it looks like it would catch fish.

[Mitch f]

I don't fly fish but I do tie hair jigs and try to use at least 2 types of hair. This guy is a little tough to listen to, but ties beautiful jigs. I would think you could get some ideas from him. I also think you should be able to go to YouTube and find plenty of examples for crawfish flies

[Big Brown Trout]

hey smallmouth here are my notes on it:

1. I cant tell what the "mouth" parts are tied of, I would consider making that bucktail or marabou, anything that breathes. If that material moves around in the water leave it.

2. the hair (or feathers?) near the point of the hook might obstruct/hinder hookup with a fish. Also it might keep the fish from staying on.

here are my Crayfish flies I tie (I call the Hunter Killer Crays).

feel free to borrow any ideas you like from them, or if you want I can give you the recipe.

these hunt pretty well ...

[Lancer09]

Honestly, people make crayfish flies way more complicated than they need too. A hook with some dumbell eyes, some sort of claws (either small strips of rabbit, suede, foam, or hackle), a palmered hackle body and some dubbing will catch as many fish as a fancy one will. You should be losing flies fishing craw flies if your doing it right, because that's where the craws are actually living.

If you want a fancy looking one look up Brian Wise's video on Duane Hadas Creek Crawler. Dally's has the video a few months back on their blog, and you don't NEED the epoxy coating, but it does make it look better.

[smallmouthjoe]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I'm trying to hone in on something that is effective and easy to tie with my travel kit. I'm going to Current River State Park this week for a job and will give a status report on how I fare. Thanks again.

[Big Brown Trout]

mine are simple and fish come out a long way to smack them. i'll post a walkthrough this weekend. good luck with your ties smallmouthjoe.

[smallmouthjoe]

Well my crayfish pattern produced a giant goose egg this weekend at current river state park. I did however have luck with a clouser. Caught my personal best on it this weekend! Thanks for the recipe BBT. I'll do my best to give it justice.

[Big Brown Trout]

no problem small mouth like I said I will put up a step by step for you, mine didn't do a lot yesterday. I foul hooked one bass and got another to eat it further downstream.

could have just been the day not the pattern, fishing hasn't been great. (for me anyway).

[SoMuchWater]

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to get some feedback on my attempt to tie a crayfish pattern. I know its just a pic however any advice would be appreciated.

When I create a pattern or ty something for the first time I try to exaggerate some of the features of the bug I am trying to imitate. For crayfish patterns that includes the claws, eyes and antenna. Now exaggerating doesn't always mean larger, I just want the feature to standout more and make it so no one looking at the pattern will have any dough what is the claws, the eyes etc. In fact I prefer the claws to be smaller and not equal in size to each other. It makes the crayfish look more defenseless and easier pray for Mr. Smallie, I think anyway. When it comes to color I want a dark pattern and a light pattern in the box. I also try to use materials that will have some motion even when the pattern is at rest as I find most takes on Crayfish patterns happen while the pattern is at rest. Hope that helps you out some. Remember there are no bad tys but there some not worth repeating.