I was watching a(n) (Orvis-sponsored?) video about Smallmouth Bass flies. The crayfish pattern they showed caught my eye (the orange & brown on the right in the screen capture below):
On the same webpage was a link to each of the flies shown, and the links led back to products on the Orvis website. The crayfish link was to a May’s Clearwater Crayfish:
The two don’t look identical, but similar.
I attempted to duplicate (with some substitutions…like one with brown Furry Foam carapace and one with Turkey carapace), and came up with something that looks even less similar:
I kind of like what I came up with…but I’d still like to get something to look like what I saw in the video…and I’m certain some of you can probably duplicate the pattern better than I was able to. Can you give it a shot and tell me how you did it?
It looks like mono eyes an orange flexi- floss tied in at the back, with a body of orange marabou (or soft synthetic) spun in a dubbing loop with a couple more flexi floss legs tied in at the front. It probably has bead chain eyes with some lead wrapped on the front third. the back looks like a soft synthetic tied in at the front. It looks like they spread out the tie in point to make it lay flat. You might be to substitute red fox squirrel tail althought everything on the fly looks softer, possibly polarfibre.
Dave, a few years back I was in a fly swap on here and a couple of guys tyed crayfish patterns that were pretty nifty. Yours looks as good as theirs did. Fish it and see what happens.
Hard to tell from the picture, but it looks similar to one I tie which is a take off of Stalcup’s Crazy Dad and Gierach’s Mudbug (from his book “Good Flies”). This is certainly a simpler, more impressionistic pattern. Hook: straight eye streamer hook Thread: 3/0 brown Weight: 1/30 oz lead eyes Tail / antenna: 4 strands root beer Krystal Flash, approximately shank length Body: amber Polar Chenile Legs / claws: 2 strands rubber hackle, approximately shank length Wing / back: brown bucktail
Dave, I like your turkey carapace version. My question has to do with what is at the tail of the fly. I’m thinking it is probably a black dumbell but not certain. Nice tie though.
OKFlyfisher-your materials list seems very reasonable to me.
Johnstoekel - your version has the right colors, and probably the right materials as well.
On the original brown/orange version, the carapace lies nice and flat…not sure if its tied in at the hook bend or not? If not, then it might be a stiffer material than what I think? Or could be “glued” to the body somehow? Or coated with flexament?
Turvy- I used size Large black beadchain. The May’s from Orvis appears to have a large copper bead instead.
It’s 1mm white cross-link foam. I first tie it in on top of the eyes and claws, then fold it back over and wrap wire starting at the ribbing point. Then I secure it all. After that, I airbrush with brown, olive and a tinge of orange.Then I coat with Clear Cure Goo. So yeah, a lot more work, but fun to tie.
FishinDave
The two crayfish patterns you show are both tied by Steve May. He and I both guide and teach for Grand River Troutfitters in Ontario. Here is a link that will show you how to tie the pattern with the furry foam shell. The other one is his newest and I think simpler pattern. I’m not sure how he does that one.
Dave
I’m pretty sure there is no SBS for the clearwater cray but the one you tied looks pretty hard to improve on. The only things you might want to do is move the eyes back a little tighter to the fly. The weight at the tail is definitely dumbell eyes of appropriate weight for your conditions and size of fly. It looks as though you might have used chain bead?? The crays you tied would certainly catch em here.
