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Thread: Crackleback Fly

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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Klamath Falls, Oregon, USA
    Posts
    1,783

    Default Crackleback Fly

    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

  2. #2

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    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

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    kansas city,mo.
    Posts
    417

    Default

    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.

  4. #4

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    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.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Ashburn, Virginia
    Posts
    7,867

    Default

    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

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Middle Tennessee
    Posts
    740

    Default

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

    Popperfly>-<(((((*>
    Born to Fish...Forced to Work !

  7. #7

    Default

    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.

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