River flies

[mike_richardson]

Tied these guys up last night for river fishing. crayfish, wooly bugger, and leeches. Any insight. Had success on all three for rockbass and smallmouth.

 

[streamerguy]

Nice ties. I tie a lot of flies that look almost exactly like the middle ones. I usually tie them in size 10s, yeah kinda small for bass, but they sure catch a lot of fish. The crayfish look good too. Did you use that thin skin stuff for the back?

 

[pwk5017]

How well do those leeches work for smallies? I have heard dead drifting a bunny leech under an indy can be pretty effective. How do you fish them?

Mind showing another shot of that crayfish? I am still looking for a solid crayfish pattern that doesnt totally suck to tie.

 

[mike_richardson]

I was dead drifting it with a few twitches in really clear water for them. I tie it in a conehead variety but the natural leech was most effective. Yeah i am loving that thin skin stuff. This is a little shiny but you can sub in any material if you would like.

PWK- i can do a tutorial on it if you would like as well. it is really simple.

This one is tied with the hook down which i have not tested yet. It will work but might get snagged more than the other really all you ahave to do is:

!) weight the hook leave room at ben and eye for finishing
2) wet marabou and tie in. hold the marabout out and secure front and back to make it seperate from other side while in water.
3) repeat on other side.
4) place two strands of turkey feather for anteni
tie in the strip of thin skin approx1/4" wide and let it flop over side of hook.
5) tie in chenille and wrap to creat body to thickness desired tapering back to the tail. Be sure to wrap once in front of the thin skin for a more natural look.
6) tie in the legs. seperate so they are not clumped together when dead drifting
7) pull thin skin back and secure tightly to create the thorax section
8) pull thin skin up and move thread and create further sections. Secure last setion and fold skin back towards front of fly and let it sit there. WHip finish at eye but build up some thread. Fold skin over and cut to make the tail. If you try you will see that it is not hard at all.

Let me know if you guys want the tutorial on this. Thanks for the kind words. Might not be the best crayfish out there but it works and doesnt "suck" to tie.

 

[streamerguy]

Thanks for the instructions. I've been messing around a bit with different crayfish patterns lately too, and a lot of the ones I came up with are very similar to yours. I haven't tried the rubber legs yet though, just hackle. I also tied a few with foam, furry foam, and thin skin. I'm thinking of testing them out tomorrow, so I'll see what works best.

 

[osprey]

They are NICE!!! they remind me of the days when i lived on the Susq. Now i'm a full blown Yinzer. Dang.

 

[mike_richardson]

Streamer guy i just purchased some fury foam as well. LOL funny how you can be on the same page as another tyer. I think the crayfish is an overlooked food item for trout. I have did post mortum analasis on many large browns and found a lot of crabs in there bellies. I want to get this locked down. I followed the crayfish thread but all of those are a little time consuming. I really like the fury foam that a member posted.

 

[pwk5017]

Thanks for the step by step on the crayfish. One more question for you on the leeches. I had just assumed you used a strip of rabbit, but on closer inspection it looks like marabou. Is it marabou, and do you prefer this over bunny strips? What sizes do you like to fish these in? I am guessing you want a fly length of about 2-3".

 

[osprey]

Clouser uses furry foam for his crayfish and pheasant flank feathers for the pinchers.

 

[mike_richardson]

That is just a rabbit strip with leech yarn wrapped and plucked out for some extra movement.

I need to get my nikkon fired up it is 12megapixles compared to my droid. lol

That leech is easy to tie. THe ones for the river have a longer tail than the ones i make for trout.

I tie them in size 8 and 6 but will be doing a few in size 4 as well.

I am playing with the crafish patern and want to go down to size 12 or 14 but i have to use a different body material on the little ones i am thinking fox squirrel hide fur for dubbing.

 

[streamerguy]

Streamer guy i just purchased some fury foam as well. LOL funny how you can be on the same page as another tyer.

Yeah that is pretty funny. Actually one of your earlier threads on crayfish flies is what inspired me to experiment with some myself, but I had no idea mine would look pretty much the same as yours in the picture lol.

I did try some out today for a little bit, but had no luck. The fishing wasn't really that great to begin with though. I just switched to a white conehead bugger(kinda like the ones in your pic, but w/o hackle) and ended up catching a few. Did catch 2 carp sightfishing with egg patterns in some shallow riffles which was a blast.