favorite Smallmouth bass patterns

[TomS]

Mine are Leaches but want to try craws and Hellgrammites.
anyone know any simple patterns for crawdads?
and how do you fish Hellgramies in a lake?

[pittendrigh]

The simplest Crawdad is a woolly bugger with two marabou tails instead of one. Slightly reddish-tan works best for me. The Lower Madison River in Montana (close to Bozeman) is full of crawdads. Browns and bigger rainbows seem to be addicted to crawdads. Especially the browns. Real crayfish swim like lightning when in panic mode. So I try to work a compromise between dead drift (to get it down) and high-speed twitch, to get the fish's attention.

[Greg H]

I agree with the brown woolly bugger idea for a crayfish, but suggest two clumps of squirrel tail for the claws - or even just one clump because the c'fish folds them together when travelling. I find the squirrel colouring, shape and stiffness more closely represents the claws and doesn't tangle as much either. You could put some lead eyes on the hook Clouser style (but closer t othe bend) to get the fly down and also keep the hook pointing up). The extra bulk there when you dub or use chenille will be more like the shape of a c'fish too.
I think helgramites don't live in lakes very often. I have a cabin on an excellent smallmouth lake and have never (28 years) seen either the nymph (helgrammite) or adult (dobson fly) there. Damsel, dragon, mayfly and caddis; yes - so I presume if helgramites liked still water they would be there. I think Googling 'helgramite' would help identify where they might turn up.

[dave potts]

I agree with the brown woolly bugger idea for a crayfish, but suggest two clumps of squirrel tail for the claws - or even just one clump because the c'fish folds them together when travelling. I find the squirrel colouring, shape and stiffness more closely represents the claws and doesn't tangle as much either. You could put some lead eyes on the hook Clouser style (but closer t othe bend) to get the fly down and also keep the hook pointing up). The extra bulk there when you dub or use chenille will be more like the shape of a c'fish too.
I think helgramites don't live in lakes very often. I have a cabin on an excellent smallmouth lake and have never (28 years) seen either the nymph (helgrammite) or adult (dobson fly) there. Damsel, dragon, mayfly and caddis; yes - so I presume if helgramites liked still water they would be there. I think Googling 'helgramite' would help identify where they might turn up.

Greg,
I like the sound of your crawdad pattern. Any chance you could post a picture of one of them?

Dave

[Greg H]

Greg,
I like the sound of your crawdad pattern. Any chance you could post a picture of one of them?
Dave

I could probably do this fairly easily if someone could provide picture posting instructions. I have no web/net account to post pics - the last time (some while ago) I posted a fly to Fly Tying Forum and provided a link. Slicker suggestions greatfully accepted.
G

[pillcaster]

I agree with the brown woolly bugger idea for a crayfish, but suggest two clumps of squirrel tail for the claws - or even just one clump because the c'fish folds them together when travelling. I find the squirrel colouring, shape and stiffness more closely represents the claws and doesn't tangle as much either. You could put some lead eyes on the hook Clouser style (but closer t othe bend) to get the fly down and also keep the hook pointing up). The extra bulk there when you dub or use chenille will be more like the shape of a c'fish too.
I think helgramites don't live in lakes very often. I have a cabin on an excellent smallmouth lake and have never (28 years) seen either the nymph (helgrammite) or adult (dobson fly) there. Damsel, dragon, mayfly and caddis; yes - so I presume if helgramites liked still water they would be there. I think Googling 'helgramite' would help identify where they might turn up.

I tie mine very similar to this - I use a 1/32 or 1/64 ounce jig hook instead of clouser style dumbells cuz the dumbells will wedge b/t rocks sometimes and the roundhead jig seems to slide thru more often. The jig does allow for the hook to ride up like a clouser. I use pine sq "micro" zonkers, tie in a small clump of deer hair close to the hook bend and tie the "claws" on either side, then wrap the squirrel up to the hook eye, very similar to John Scott's Pine Squirrel Cheater in the tie method except it has 2 "tails" for claws w/ the deer hair. To finish I tie some leg material close to the jig head - similar to the kreel craw http://www.flyfishohio.com/Kreel_Craw.htm
I use the sculpin olive color and crawfish orange, have had very good luck - this is usually the first fly I try

[turvy]

Woolies, clousers and leeches have all been successful for me in the past but this year I have started doing a gray deceiver with yellow 3D eyes and that has worked very well the past three weeks. A couple of wraps of weight gets the fly a foot or so down and I vary the retrieve from very fast to very slow...the smallies tell me how they want it presented that day. The river I fish has a very heavy population of minnows but that many crawdads...that's why I have gone away from crawdads. I suppose my brown woolie could be considered a crawdad imitation.

[TomS]

Okay whats the best Smallie bug/thing to imitate?

[TomS]

I tie mine very similar to this - I use a 1/32 or 1/64 ounce jig hook instead of clouser style dumbells cuz the dumbells will wedge b/t rocks sometimes and the roundhead jig seems to slide thru more often. The jig does allow for the hook to ride up like a clouser. I use pine sq "micro" zonkers, tie in a small clump of deer hair close to the hook bend and tie the "claws" on either side, then wrap the squirrel up to the hook eye, very similar to John Scott's Pine Squirrel Cheater in the tie method except it has 2 "tails" for claws w/ the deer hair. To finish I tie some leg material close to the jig head - similar to the kreel craw http://www.flyfishohio.com/Kreel_Craw.htm
I use the sculpin olive color and crawfish orange, have had very good luck - this is usually the first fly I try

I have everything for that pattern but the lead eyes.bead chain eyes okay? with a lot of Lead wire>

[JeffHamm]

Here in New Zealand, a Fuzzy Wuzzy was originally tied as an immitation of a koura (crayfish). Fred Fletcher, who developed the pattern in the 30s, originally tied it with a palmered hackle, making it very similar to a wooly bugger except the tail was a bunch of squirreal tail hair (this was before the wooly bugger became popular though). The pattern changed, and the tie is now a series of hackle collars rather than a palmered version; most have 2 hackles, one in the middle of the body and one at the head. The tail is squirrel tail hair, and the body is either wool or cheneil. In small sizes some people just go with the one hackle at the head, and large sizes often have 3 hackles tied in. Below is a photo of a small one (size 12), but I put in 2 hackels, with a yellow body (so a "Yellow Fuzzy Wuzzy").



The Red Setter is tied the same way, but the body is orange, the tail fox squirrel, and the hackles ginger. That's probably the most popular of this type, and I've got a photo of one below, tied on a larger hook (size 4 I think):



I think I submitted the Fuzzy Wuzzy as a fly of the week or Just Old Flies and Stuff article a few years ago, so there are some tying instructions. I know one of the earliest Flies of the Week is the Red Setter (submitted by Hughie McDowell, who is one of New Zealand's better fly tying authors in my opinion).

- Jeff