Crackleback flys - colors & technique?

[Scruffy Fly]

After seeing the Crackleback fly in the Feather Craft catalog for several years I have decided to make a few for fishing trout. Until yesterday I have not seen them in a flyshop here in Colorado.
In the list of the 5 go to flys I see that it is listed several times.

Feather Craft talks of using it on the bottom of the river and using it as a dry fly. One question I have is: do you use a different hackle for the using it on the bottom of the river?

The recipe calls for a furnace hackle which commonly is brown. Is that what works best?

What body colors do you find most effective?

What sizes?

What fishing technique works best for this fly?

[url=http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/fotw2/080502fotw.html:7c034]Crackleback - "Fly of the Week", Click Here![/url:7c034]

Look at what materials you have on hand, and use those, then see how they work!

~Parnelli

[The_Sib]

I like any color body that is reminicent of local caterpillars.

The brown furnace hackle ( being black near the stem ) gives a distinct barred and segmented effect at the body when palmered.

Fish it upstream BUT when it gets to the end of the drift, give the line a yank and the fly will dive under. Let it swing (under ), retrieve.

A couple of false casts will dry it out quick.

[Scruffy Fly]

Thank you for pointing me to the recipe.

I presume then that you are saying you have tyed them in all those sizes and those colors and you find them equally effective.

Furnace feathers you can get dyed in different colors. What color? The recipe does not say.

I presume you are saying that you fish it up and across and find that more effective than "skipping" it on the bottom. What ever Ed Story means by "skipping" it.

[J Castwell]

You for some reason do not think this should be posted ubder 'Fly Tying?' Why?

[Scruffy Fly]

You for some reason do not think this should be posted ubder 'Fly Tying?' Why?

one: I did not think about a fly tying forum being on here. I have not visited it much.

But mainly the references to the crackleback was on the post about 5 best trout flys. I don't think most people tie their own flys. I think I would get a wider view of the flyfisherman here.

Are you saying this a problem?

[ducksterman]

I believe to call it a "Crackleback" it should at least have a "Back"..like the original.

Seems to me the FAOL one is closer to a woolly worm.

[Scruffy Fly]

I believe to call it a "Crackleback" it should at least have a "Back"..like the original.

Seems to me the FAOL one is closer to a woolly worm.

How is the original back different?

[WarrenP]

The Crackle Back fly that would be a wooly worm would be the Miller's Woolly. It is tied very similiar. It has no tail. The body is dubbing(usually yellow dubbing at the back with gray in the thorax area), wire rib, peacock herl pulled across the back, grizzly hackle palmered through and lead wrap on underbody. It is a very good fly. The creator was Charles Miller.

[soloman]

I fish it sometimes as a dry, upstream.

Other times I fish it as a streamer - cast it downstream and across about a 45 degree angle and let it swing across the top, pull it under at the end of the swing and let it sit for a while and retrieve it back as an emerger

I tie mine using red thread
a poly floss under body - usually yellow
peacock hearl back
brown hackle

I have also cross or reverse palmered copper wire over the top of the hackle to give the fly durability.