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Over time i have expirimented with many types of crawdad patterns but to no avail. I cant find a craw pattern thats fairly easy to tie and works. Does anyone have a pattern that they like peticulary well? Please include the recipe if you dont mind?
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Quitcha B****IN and lets gooooo fishin
Bass, I learned a simple crawfish fly that works from the guys at Wapsi. They were tying these at the Sowbug Roundup 2 or 3 years ago.
Hook: 3X or 4X long streamer hook size 8
Weight: lead dumb-bell eyes
Claws: short section of a crawdad orange pine squirrel strip
Antenna: rubber leg material
Body: brown pine squirrel strip wound up the hook shank
After attaching the dumb-bell eyes, wrap the thread back to the bend. Tie in the rubber leg material extending past the back of the hook. Wrap a small ball of dubbing to separate the claws and then tie in the claws. Tie in the brown pine-squirrel strip and wrap it on the hook shank, stroking the fur back as you make each turn.
When you get to the front take a couple of wraps around the lead eyes and tie off.
That's it. Simple, but the smallmouth bass around here love it.
Steve
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"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went"-Will Rogers
BA-04... check in the archives here. There's a bunch of crawdad patterns. Just go to the left column under fly tying. Then go to the fly of the week archives and scroll. I think there's about 5 or 6 patterns listed.....
Mike
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You can observe allot by watching....
Yogi Berra
There is a pattern in the archive called the Texas Crawfish. It's easy to tie. I did up a bunch of them last week. I haven't used them yet - will give them a try this spring, but it looks like it will do the trick.
CJ
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The only limitations we have are the ones we put on ourselves.
I looked at the Texas Crawfish and plan on tying a couple, but was wondering it the hook used had some specific benefit. Will the bends in the shaft make it fish better, tie easier, or whatever?
Adam
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vox clamantis in deserto
i use the same hooks to tie large poppers so that the cork doesnt rotate and stays in plays. Im not really sure for the purpose of the crinks but i used the Mustad 33903 hook when i tied mine in case their was a purpose. The person to ask is Richard Komar.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...en88/hooks.jpg
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Quitcha B****IN and lets gooooo fishin
[This message has been edited by Bass_Angler_04 (edited 11 January 2005).]
E-mail me with your address. I will send you a sample, & recipe of a craw pattern that is not only dang realistic, but works better then any I've used !!! I call it Whitey's Craw (nicknamed after a local friend that showed me how to tie it). Takes 30-45 minutes once you get the recipe down; so you won't tie or want to lose a lot of them. (Do use an olive, or a brown/amber ???)
I have to agree with Castwell. The plastic mini-crawfish (3" and below) work the best for largemouth. They are weedless, cheaper than "real flies" and the action you can give them on a fly rod is outstanding. For river and smallmouth fishing a lighter (weight wise) craw fly works well with split shot up the leader. Use a nymph or dead drift method on these. The bucktail craw fly would do nicely. But don't over look the virtues of soft plastic on a fly rod.
I find tying a small version of Al Campbell's shrimpf in red and black with a little flash works well enough as a crawfish imitator in my dingy central Lousiana lakes. It's a quick and easy tie and I think the fish interpret it either to be a small minnow or a crawfish. I also like that the body and winging material is very flexible based on what I have. I can use yarn, chenille, dubbing, antron, or whatever I have on hand for the body and bucktail pieces, squirrel, craft fur, or kip's tail for the wing to customize the fly to mimic local colorations of crawfish and/or minnows. Do a search for "shrimpf" on FAOL and you'll find the pattern.
Kevin Smith
Central Louisiana
My favorite crawfish pattern--
Weight: clouser style
Body: root beer estatz
tail: brown marabou
attenae: copper crystal flash, left a little long
I like to use a #4 mustad baitsaver hook on this; it has a nice short shank and hooks extremely well. The root beer body on this fly looks surprisingly realistic crawling over a rock. Most of the smallmouth writers say that fish prefer softshell crayfish without pincers. I am no expert, but this fly did account for my biggest riverine smallie (18").
Russ
http://www.flymaker.com/bbGallery/Cray5.jpg
Here is a "Sugar Creek Craw" that I developed using siliskin and Knot Sense. Never caught a fish on one yet and too hard to tie anyways.
I'm voting for the one Biot Midge posted because it sounds well proven and straightforward to tie.
They all sound fun to tie though.
Rich
[This message has been edited by flymaker2 (edited 11 January 2005).]
I like Whitlock's Near Nuff Crawfish. I can't lay hands on the recipe right now but the video (which also has the Near Nuff Sculpin on it) is my favorite flyfishing video.
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Chuck Hitt
ive tied the Near Nuff Sculpin and have liked the results. Somewhere i heard about the Near Nuff Crawfish but i cant find the recipe either.
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Quitcha B****IN and lets gooooo fishin
I cant believe that u have yet to catch a fish of that Sugar Creek Craw. It looks good enough for me to eat (i eat crawdads like popcorn, being raised in southern alabama)It just proves what can be apealing to our eye can be the exact opposite to a fish's
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Quitcha B****IN and lets gooooo fishin
Bass_Angler_04,
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/biggrin.gif
It is more me than the fly. I was fishing for some pretty picky trout. The local guru said to use a craw, so I made some of these. When he saw them, he steered me towards one tied with softer materials and mostly Rabbit Fur.
That Sugar Creek Craw will most likely work, but maybe for smallmouths or LMB. I don't get to fish for them much. Someday!
Thanks,
Rich
Hello Helicopsyche,
The "humped" hook is to aid in holding the "exoskeleton" in place. To make the Crawdad extra-durable, when you wind the chenille to the hump, bind it there with a few extra turns of thread, then finish spiralling the chenille. This is helpful in securing body dresings for tying large, long shank flies.
Will it catch fish if you do not use a humped hook? Yes, most definitely. The weed guard does help quite a bit. Bead chain or dumbell eyes can be substituted for more weight.
Thank you for your interest in the Texas Crawdad. If you need a frog to go along with your crawdad, may I suggest the Texas BullFrog?
Cheers,
Richard
Plano TX
Richard that Texas Bulfrog is just crazy. I can't believe I have overlooked it.
Are any of you Dallas guys coming up to the Little Missouri Festival that Jeff Guerin puts on?
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Chuck Hitt
Hello Chuck,
The Little Missouri event is on the Dallas Flyfishers' calendar:
[url=http://www.dallas-flyfishers.org/Misc%20New%20Pages/Outings.htm:cb5d5]http://www.dallas-flyfishers.org/Misc%20New%20Pages/Outings.htm[/url:cb5d5]
Some club members will be going. I have to pass myself.
I will be at Sowbug 2005 in Mountain Home AR in March. On Thursday afternoon, 17 March, I will be tying BIG Texas BullFrogs (size 1/0, 18mm doll-eyes and 5 inches long). Come on by my tying station (look for the Dingo vise) and I'll tye one just for you. You can get it in any color as long as it's olive http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/smile.gif.On Friday, 18 March, I will be tying another FOTW of mine, the Raptor.
Cheers,
Richard
Plano TX
This has been a great help to me and thank everyone who posted. If anyone else whould like to post feel free.
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"Quitcha B****IN' and lets goooo fishin'!"-COOL CHANGE, Capt. Joe Nash
BA-04... I have a woolie type pattern that I tie that has worked EXTREMELY well on some local waters. Tie a brown over rust marabou tail, a peacock herl body tied thick and a VERY webby Silver Badger hackle. I get mine off a cheap Indian neck I have had for quite awhile. I tie mine with a bead head and a heavily weighted body. I tried a furnace hackle with the same body and the fish wouldn't touch it. I think the biggest problem with that though was the hackle was almost a dry fly quality and I think it made the pattern act a little differently in the water. I fished a creek where we found a rock shelf. We threw the flies onto the shelf and slowly pulled them off and let them drop. The hits were vicious. Tie plenty of these if you use them because they will get ripped up. You may want to counter wrap the hackle with a copper wire to try to improve the durability.
Mike
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You can observe allot by watching....
Yogi Berra
Near'Nuff Crayfish, Brown
HOOK: TMC 5263, sizes 4-8
THREAD: light brown or orange, 3/0
ANTENNAE: orange KF, pumpkinsee Sili Legs, black Spanflex; 3 pair; paint
tips fluorescent red orange
EYES: Mason mono, burnt
PINCHERS: two grizzly hen; paint fl. red
LEGS: webby hackle dyed orange
THORAX: brown rabbit, gold antron, gold flashabou dubbing, mixed
WEIGHT: lead eyes painted brown
NOSE: golden brown rabbit fur
it was posted here a few yrs back. someone asked bout it i think
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"Quitcha B****IN' and lets goooo fishin'!"-COOL CHANGE, Capt. Joe Nash
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...yfish01_1b.gif
[This message has been edited by Bass_Angler_04 (edited 16 January 2005).]
I use small plastic crayfish as well. And as mentioned cheap. I like 'em mostly 'cause you can always match the hatch at any particular lake with them as they come in assorted colors. They've outfished all other crayfish patterns I've used... this doesn't include woolly buggers or any of the patterns that mimic a lot of stuff. I'm talking specifically tied crayfish patterns to match what's in some of my local lakes.
I've gotten some pretty strange looks and comments from others using these guys, but when the rod starts bending it turns eyebrows. Just started using these this year and I do love 'em.
Later,
Jambalaya
TYER Frank Reid
HOOK Mustad 37160 size 2/0 to 10
WEIGHT lead wire
THREAD contrasting color, heavy
FEELERS about 10 to 20 deer hairs
ANTENNA Matching color rubber legs (about 1 to 1 1/2 inches long)
EYES plastic bead chain
BODY chenille
SHELL plastic raffia covered in 5 minute epoxy
CLAWS Zonker (rabbit for size 6 and larger, mink or pine squirrel for 8 and smaller)
COMMENTS Colors of the thread and body parts are what you want to match the local crawfish. Tan is a good general color.
Hook up in the vise, tie in the deer hair on the bottom of the hook, just back of the point.
Tie in the rubber legs on top of this (if you stretch it away from you at a 45 degree angle going down, it will come out even).
On top of the hook (inside), tie in two plastic bead chain eyes. I have about 100 yard of the stuff in orange from the craft store. Figure 8 two in (one either side of the hook). Its easier to leave them as part of the chain until you've tied them in, then snip off the rest.
Tie in about 2 inches of plastic raffia right behind the eyes. Bring the raffia forward between the eyes, along the top of the hook and tie in again forward of the hook. Bring the thread back behind the eyes.
Tie in a six inch piece of chenille behind the eyes.
On top of that tie in two pieces of zonker, fur up at a 45 degree angle from the hook. On a size 4 hook, these are about 3/4" long. On a size 10, about a half an inch. I add a drop of super glue on top of the thread here to hold them in place.
Bring the thread down to the second bend (towards the eye).
Wrap the chenille around the base of the zonker, then forward, between the eyes, around once and back around the base of the zonkers again, continuing down to the second bend (towards the eye). Two wraps of thread go around the chenille at this point.
Lightly loosen the hook in the vise, and bring it down so that the shaft with the eye is parallel with the tying bench. Wrap thread to the eye and bring the thread back to the second bend.
Wrap the last third of the shaft with lead wire. Don't use much more. I'll explain later.
Continue wrapping the chenille to the eye (the thread is at the second bend).
Bring the raffia back along the top of the body to the second bend and give it a couple of wraps of thread. With the raffia laying along the shaft to the eye, use the thread to section this in about three sections to the eye, with the final wrap just behind the eye.
Lift the raffia and tie off the thread behind the eye. Clip the raffia PAST the eye, and splay it out. This makes a nice little tail.
You can now use head cement, fingernail polish or epoxy on the raffia to give it some sheen and harden it up. Epoxy works the best.
I use a loop type knot on this fly. That gives it a bit more wiggle. The weight at the last third of the hook sends the eye down and the zonkers hold the front up. Thats also why I use plastic beadchain for the eyes. I don't want extra weight up front. This imitates a crawdad in the defensive "fightin'" position, which is how a fish would see it. Also, the hook is up. I've dragged it through brush many times without a snag. The bottom part of the hook is now an instant hook guard. Fish it in short jerks, let it settle and then jerk it again. This immitates a fleeing crawdad.
The size 10 works real well on large trout where there are crawdads in the stream or lake. The size 2-4 is great for smallies and largemouth. I have one friend who caught an 8 lb rainbow and a 6 lb bass on two successive casts with a size 4 in a southern Utah resevoir.
A picture is at [url=http://www.gula.org/roffswaps/recipe.php?page=FS2000&id=2:7320a]http://www.gula.org/roffswaps/recipe.php?page=FS2000&id=2[/url:7320a]
Good luck.
Frank Reid
Wow thanks alot for all those posts i got a lot of great tips and patterns.
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The way to every flyfisherman's heart is through his fly
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...yfish01_1b.gif
[This message has been edited by Bass_Angler_04 (edited 19 January 2005).]
Flytyer37, neat pattern of Frank Ried's that you posted. Now then, were in the world do you find a Mustad 37160 size in 2/0? Oddly http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/wink.gif, none of my local resources had this hook in anything larger than a #12
Sorry so late in replying, didn't see your post till today.
The 37160 is also called an "English Bait Hook"
Cabela's has the to 1/0.
Frank Reid
Thank you sir, I hadn't even thought of checking Cabela's. All my local shops looked at my with an odd glance when I asked for size 2 "caddis pupa hooks", heheheh.
I have been looking for a craw pattern as well that is easy to tie but doesn't require a bunch of materials. On another list there was a discussion about woolly buggers and that they probably imitate a crayfish to trout under some circumstances. So I was thinking if there was a way I could represent a cross between a bugger and a craw. I came up with a pattern but haven't fished it yet and though I'd share it here.
What I did is use a 6X long hook, and started the thread at the bend of the hook and tied in the chenille and wrapped it forward a turn or two then tied on a set of dumbbell eyes in black. I then wrapped the chenille criss-cross across the eyes and then took a turn behind the eyes. Then I tied in the marabou (2) feathers, one on each side so that the eyes spread the marabou out like pincher's. I then tied in the hackle and wrapped the thread back to the eye where I tied in a short piece of marabou with the feather covering the eye as a tail fin. Then I wrapped the chenille to the eye. palmared the hackle to the eye and tied off.
In a large bowel of water I think it acts like I wanted. Anyone ever done anything similar? I'll try to post a picture later.
Dan
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ozarkflyflinger57,
Im doing a virtual warm water swap. All you do is email me a pic, recipe, directions in and then i foward all the email i recieve to the swappers. I think you craw bugger is just the thing for it. Email me it if you are interested.
Thanks for the reply
-zac
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The way to a flyfisherman's heart is through his fly
Craw Bugger, What do you think (1st try to post picture)
http://members.cox.net/dwest6/cb.jpg
Here are the five Crayfish Fly Patterns in the "Fly of the Week Archives", along with the url connection to the article.
Baby Crayfish [url=http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw2/082602fotw.html:e47e5]http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw2/082602fotw.html[/url:e47e5]
Henry's Crawfish [url=http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw2/112700fotw.html:e47e5]http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw2/112700fotw.html[/url:e47e5]
Rock's Crayfish [url=http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw/72798fotw.html:e47e5]http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw/72798fotw.html[/url:e47e5]
Texas Crawdad [url=http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw2/072103fotw.html:e47e5]http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw2/072103fotw.html[/url:e47e5]
York Molted Crayfish [url=http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw2/121602fotw.html:e47e5]http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw2/121602fotw.html[/url:e47e5]
There are many other Crayfish (Crawdad) patterns in the other archives on FAOL.
Al's Flash-Pan Crayfish [url=http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/advanced/part7.html:e47e5]http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/advanced/part7.html[/url:e47e5]
Chris Crawfish [url=http://www.flyanglersonline.com/features/panfish/part142.html:e47e5]http://www.flyanglersonline.com/features/panfish/part142.html[/url:e47e5]
~Parnelli
[This message has been edited by Steven H. McGarthwaite (edited 08 February 2005).]
OK, I'll try to post the pic again. If it works tell me what you think.
http://members.cox.net/dwest6/CB1.jpg
OFF57-Looks good! Might pull duty as a craw or damsel. Should catch fish if presented well.
Rich