pine squirrel crawfish
My fav smallmouth fly this year - FYI
I posted this on another thread but thought someone may have suggestions on improving this if I posted here also.
I plagiarized (er borrowed) from some other fly patterns for this, a zonker crawfish pattern I saw on youtube, the clawdad and kreel craw (for the legs), and I tie the squirrel strip body like John Scotts' pine sq cheater, cept I use 2 "tails" (claws) and tied on each side of the hook instead of on top - I tie a small clump of bucktail in the hook bend to make a "head" and also keep the claws separated. Also use a 1/32oz or 1/64 size 4 jig hook. The last step is to add some legs, i use the skirting material that has some flash on it. This rides hook up, but the round head seems to get caught in the rock crevices less than a clouser type. The pine sq is naturally bouyant so the claw end floats up, giving it a natural look in the water. The sq zonker is easier to cast and takes on less water than rabbit. It is also smaller, and overall is 1 3/4", which I read somewhere (I think Fly Fish Ohio) is the preferred size for smallies. It takes fish in the sculpin olive color, but the orange seems to be the sm fav.
I fish it like a wet fly, down and across, and most strikes come on the swing. If no fish takes on the swing, I then strip it in in short quick strips and get many strikes on the retrieve.
It is fun to fish and tie.
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Originally Posted by Ron Mason
