Craw patterns

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

[biot midge]

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

[cklenske]

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.

[Helicopsyche]

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.



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Quitcha B****IN and lets gooooo fishin



[This message has been edited by Bass_Angler_04 (edited 11 January 2005).]

[MR.JML]

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 ???)

[idabelangler]

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

[Russ C]

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