Crackleback Fly

[Panman]

I ran across the crackleback fly pattern and decided to tie a few to try out this summer. The tying was easy and the fly looks like it will work for trout in a creek and warm water critters as well. I tied it using a #12 long shank hook, a yellow body and a furnace hackle. I would like to tie a few more and would like to know if any members have a preference other than yellow for the body.

Thanks

Tim

[PALongbow]

Tim - Stick with the yellow body. You can use other colors and even dubbing for the body but the yellow really turns the fish on for some reason. The crackleback is my favorite dry fly and it does produce fish.

Ron

[dpenrod]

the crackleback is a great fly. the variations are limitless. i fish them dry, wet and stripped like a streamer. as small as 16 if i am fishing dry and as big as an 8 if i am fishing wet and i want to strip it. alot of times i plan only fishing wet, so i tie several of them with lead tape on the shank to weight them a bit or i fish them on a sink tip line. i have fished the original version, but the most productive for me is a green flashabou body with furnace hackle. badger, grizzly and dun hackle are great alternatives as well. blue flashabou, red flashabou and orange holographic tinsel bodies are some others that have worked for me, but the green has been far and away the best in the waters i fish. have also thought of, but not tried yet, using wire for the body to eliminate the lead tape for fishing them wet. let us know what you come up with and post a pic or two of anything you think is particularly innovative.

[bgreer]

The crackleback was invented by Ed Story of Feather-Craft back in the 1950's.
The original color was a light olive color.
Yellow of course has been very popular as well.

Dpenrod gives a lot of good advice about colors. The green flashabou body can work very well.
A white body has worked well for me at times. Try various colors and various hackle until you find what works best for your home water.

[ScottP]

A great bluegill fly. I've been tying mine with Uni-stretch bodies in yellow, orange, red and chartreuse with peacock shellback. May give some of the spandex products a try, too; great color selection.

Regards
Scott

[popperfly]

A green body and red thread head works really good for trout also, been using this fly for some time now.

[jszymczyk]

It's a Woolly Worm. Call it what you want, in whatever colors and materials you want, but it's a Woolly Worm or simply a "Hackle" fly as they were called long ago. Possibly one of the very first styles of flies made in antiquity. No offense to Feather Craft but it's just a variation of a fly which has been around ever since there have been flies.

[djo]

It's a Woolly Worm. Call it what you want, in whatever colors and materials you want, but it's a Woolly Worm or simply a "Hackle" fly as they were called long ago. Possibly one of the very first styles of flies made in antiquity. No offense to Feather Craft but it's just a variation of a fly which has been around ever since there have been flies.

I have often thought that same thing (of course most flies are simple variations on others). It will be interesting to see how folks repond to your opinion.
David

[dpenrod]

I have often thought that same thing (of course most flies are simple variations on others). It will be interesting to see how folks repond to your opinion.
David

tomato, tomatoe. who cares really? i have always thought of the crackleback as a dry fly that can be fished a variety of ways and the woolly worm as a nymph. have never fished the woolly worm as a dry and never intend to. i am sure you could fish it as a dry if you wanted. for that matter, how different is a woolly worm from a woolly bugger? i always tie my woolly worms with a red yarn tail. is a woolly worm without a tail a griffith's gnat?

[WarrenP]

Maybe this will help: According to Woolly Wisdom written by Gary Soucie, it is called a Crackle-back Dry Woolly. Here is what Ed Story says: "I tie them with a special neck hackle with a thin stem and a more 'sparse' dry-fly hackle than is normally found. The reason for the sparse hackle is to allow the size, shape and color of the fly body to show through the hackle. I want just enough hackle to float the fly body. I use 4 1/2 evenly spaced hackle wraps on a size 12. A few years ago, we had Whiting Farms grow us 500 furnace 'saddles' with these features. The sold out in no time. The reason for the thin stem and sparse hackle is that I designed the pattern to float on top as a dry-fly terrestrial. No need to wait for a hatch."

Feather-Craft sells them in pale-yellow, brown-spider, lime and sulphur-orange versions. To fish the Crackleback as a dry fly, dress the hackle with floatant and fish it dead-drift or skitter it across the surface in the manner of an emerging caddis. Most anglers prefer to fish it both ways, as well as wet, on a single cast. As Ed Story explains, "Allow the fly to dead drift on top. If no hit on top after a few yards of drift, pull the fly under. Then 'skip' it with your rod tip as it goes downstream: a steady skip-skip-skip with your rod tip. To go really deep in off-color water, use a full-sinking line, a four-foot 4X or 5X tippet, and again skip-skip-skip the fly really deep for great success."

I use this fly and it is a go-to fly for me. It usually will always produce fish for me and when I tie it, I try to make sure to only put 4 1/2 evenly spaced hackle wraps. I use Punch Yarn for the body on most or will use floss. Make sure to put the skip-skip-skip into the retrieve because this is when this pattern is the most productive for me.

It is a great pattern for catching fish no matter what you want to call it.