what is the best and eaisest pattern to imitate a crawfish, i have very limited materials and im pretty new so i wanted to be able to tie a quick, simple, and effective crawfish fly
Here are several entries from a swap we held right here on FAOL.
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/ghileman@ … /my_photos
IMO, none of them are too difficult to tie. The custom crawfish was my entry is my favorite. It takes bead chain, chenille, hackle, swiss straw, gold or copper wire, lead wire, rubber legs, and zonker or pine squirrel strips. You could probably substitute cut strips of brown plastic grocery bags for the swiss straw. Not much there that is too exotic. The zonkers would probably be the most expensive. If you want a recipe or step by step with some pictures, email me and I’ll get something to you. I’d also suggest tying it reversed on the hook so that the point rides up instead of down. It can be tied in any color you want.
If one of the other patterns is what you are after, each pic has the tyer’s name on it. The original swap thread has been lost during the update, and original postings and recipes are no longer available, so you should probably contact each user for the pattern or recipe. All of the patterns were pretty good ones, IMO.
The crawbaby was my other entry and would be the easiest. It is a stripped down version of the custom crawfish. You only need eyes, body material (either dubbing or chenille), rubber legs, and something for shell material (swiss straw, plastic bag, etc.). You can rib the shell with thread or even add some wire for that. That is as simple as you get.
Tie up some Dee flies in smaller sizes. 6-8. Long haclles and sub white goose strips for wings. I use them for seatrout and they sure work!
Dave :lol:
An all brown wolly bugger or a brown with orange tail wolly bugger works as well as anything.Very simple to tie.A crystal bugger tied with brown estaz and orange tail is a killer.
I would have to agree with Skip that probably a few mods on a woolly bugger would be a fast and very easy way to get a somewhat crayfish looking fly. Another possiblity is to look at the Clouser Swimming Nymph (pattern is here and elsewhere), which with a few tying mods on the tail (maybe use rabbit instead of marabou) could give a nice imitation of a cray. There are only about 5 ingredients needed, and it is a very easy tie. On that application I would thing about a TMC 200R, or a Mustad C53S for a nice shape, but a streamer hook would work as well!
Good Fishing!
lj,
There are a LOT of good craw immi’s out there. We too opt for the ease and simplicity of a wollybugger done to immi a craw. As you gain “stick time”, it may surprise you in finding that WHAT YOU DO (placement and puppeteering) with the bug will generally be far more important to success than WHAT BUG you use. 
…lee s.
I use a cross between a bugger and a brook’s stonefly, tied olive and brown mixed. I got a nice 5lber on Saturday with it.
I would tie a clawdad you can see it on http://www.kreeltackle.com/
You may not want to buy the tails, but you can cut them out of a chamois
For me this pattern has outfished all other crawdad patterns
Brown wooly bugger with a tailing of Fox Squirrel, or Wild Cottontail Rabbit, Fastest I know of…
Cornmuse just posted a link to a video for tying one on the warm water board called skipdad. It looks easy and should be effective.
You might try tying the FOTW (Reversed Spider) wrong-way-'round (tail at the hook eye, and hackle/legs hanging off the back). Never know…
Check out this from Joe Cornwall:
http://www.flyfishohio.com/
Thanks!
KAHUNA
P.S. An easy tie and I used Wild Turkey Feathers.
Here is my recipe for the Olive Crayfish you will see in the pics on the post by ol’blue. It is pretty easy to tie. John
OLIVE CRAYFISH
HOOK: Mustad 9575 #8
6-10 wraps of lead at tail
THREAD: UTC 140 Olive
BODY: Olive Squirrel Dubbing
BACK: Olive Swiss Straw
RIB: UTC 140 Olive Thread
EYES: Black Mono Med
MAIN ANTENNA: Olive Round Rubber Legs
SECONDARY ANTENNA: Black Wig Hair
lj1909:
Here are links to two previous threads on the same subject:
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=7485
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=7148
I’ll enthusiastically endorse gfmd33’s suggestion to check out http://www.kreeltackle.com/
The Kreel Claws just slip over the hook point. After securing with tying thread you have great claws in less than a minute…really!
For the swap shown I did a Clouser Crawfish. Thanks to reading Tim Holshlag’s smallie book, then meeting him at Great Waters where he had a version of his crawfish fly, I’ve modified it significantly. Tim uses a small square of orange foam tied off the back of the hook, which gives the fly a lift underwater similar to a fleeing and stressed crawfish. In the lastest craw used in a swap (the boa yarn swap), I tied Holshlag’s using the boa yarn from Walmart. Also called Fun Yarn or something like that. Tim uses a jig hook with the 90 degree bend with a Clouser weight tied in the angle, then builds around that. He dislikes most craw flies because they don’t show enough life underwater. I think he uses a maribou body with his. YOu might want to check his book, or website for a thorough recipe. JGW
Since crayfish (crawdads) are streamer pattern that is fished along the bottom, it help to keep the hook position up (not down)!
To keep the hook positioned up, just lay a keel (wire weight) on the top of the hook shank in the vise, and secure. The reverse the hook to dress the the hook. I dress my crayfish patterns, so they are no longer than 1? inches in length (4 cm). Reason for this is any larger, the fish will avoid the crayfish, because they do not want to get pinched.
[url=http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flytying/tyingtips/part151.html:e4a29]Laying Keel, Click Here![/url:e4a29]
Brown crystal wooly bugger with brown/ orange emu palmer works like a charm. Throw some flash or peacock or Sili legs out the back and tie it with dumbbells as a keel.
RL
There is much to be said for the keel over the dumbell eyes if they will both perform the desired function…ESPECIALLY if one’s casting is as atroscious as ours. The keel proceedure provides padding between the weight and my rod!
Try my amazingly simple wolly buggers…Pipe cleaners, thread, and marabou feathers…Make a tail out of the feathers…and make the body by wrapping the pipe cleaner around the hook…Good luck